Tadao Okazaki Explained

Tadao Okazaki (Tokyo. 1943) is a Japanese artist.[1] Okazaki and his ancestors have belonged to the Soto Sect of Zen Buddhism. Today, he lives in the Japanese North-east by former Fushiguro Village where his ancestors and parents had lived. His parents were successful wholesale merchants in Tokyo until the World War II. Two of his mother's brothers were air force pilots and died over the Pacific:

Education

Non-conventional school education

Related work experience

Honors and awards

Full Member: Hudo-Kai, Tokyo 2003

Star Exhibitor: The Photographic Society of America, 1979

Honors: 1978 North American International Photographic Exhibition; 1978 Southwest International Exhibition of Photography; 1978 Northwest International Exhibition; 1977 Toronto International Salon; 1963 Japanese National Student Fine Art Exhibition.

Workshops and organizations

2013–2003 – Hudo-Kai, Full Member and Treasurer

2013–2010 – The National Public Broadcasting Society (NHK) Culture Center, Watercolor Workshop Lecturer

2013–2003 – The Japanese Aquarelle Society, Founder and Board Member

2012–2003 – Oze National Park workshops and shows

2010–2006 – San-Osha Gallery, Inc. Workshops

Exhibitions

The birth of Ma concept and American nature abstraction paintings

Japan is known for its love of "Ma," or "negative" or "relative" space between objects or between time-points.Although Japan is expected to have numerous paintings enjoying the void of Ma, it is difficult to actually identify the ones that use the physical void:

Most of the paintings known for their "space" have spaces of varying gradations of values, which simply represent air, mist, fog or cloud—Visual void is not relevant here. A typical example is the famous "Pine Woods," National Treasure of Japan, P161, Vol.12 The Complete Works of Japanese Art, Kodansha 1992, by Hasegawa Tohaku, which was one exception to his mostly decorative paintings of space‐occupying images resembling those of the Kanoh School.

Rather, Okazaki considers the famous cloud-like "Suyari-kasumi" ("Lance-fog,") painted like wide horizontal fingers of clouds which hide strategic areas of bird's-eye sceneries are actually a small "Ma" that functions to create physical, temporal and psychological spaces in ancient Japanese paintings (p186, Vol. 12., The Complete Works of Japanese Arts, Kodansha 1992.)

Japan does have some works which have functioning visual void in the paintings such as "Shrike," Important National Cultural Asset of Japan, P232, Vol.17, The Complete Works of Japanese Arts, Kodansha 1992, by Miyamoto Musashi, the swordsman‐author‐artist of the 17th century.

Hosokawa Nariyuki, also a noted samurai like Musashi, above, has an episode significant enough to a student of Ma:

After receiving a consent from another samurai to add a verse to his finished landscape painting of the southern Kishuh (Wakayama Prefecture) Pacific coast, Hosokawa respectfully produced a completely blank sheet of Kozo mulberry paper—and the other samurai calmly obliged by calligraphing a verse along the top of the sheet.

One explanation is that because all, including the beautiful Kishuh coast vista, is nothing after all, as known in Zen, blank space which is filled only with light also should legitimately represent the true scenery (P168, Vol. 12, The Complete Works of Japanese Arts, Kodansha 1992; P162, Vol.16, The Complete Works of Japanese Arts, Gakushuh Kenkyuhsha, 1996.)

One explanation is that because all, including the beautiful Kishuh coast vista, is nothing, void, after all, as known in Zen, blank space on paper also should legitimately represent the true scenery (P168, Vol. 12, The Complete Works of Japanese Arts, Kodansha 1992; P162, Vol.16, The Complete Works of Japanese Arts, Gakushuh Kenkyuhsha, 1996.)

(1) In Sept 1979 PSA Journal, his monochromatic photo print already showed a huge Ma (empty space.)

(2) The audience thought Okazaki's representational paintings were like haiku, traditional Japanese triplet poems of mostly iambic tri- tetra- and tri-meters (Haiku-Ballad Principle:) His representational paintings "didn't chatter or explain things too much."

(3) Okazaki felt that even his "haiku-like" paintings had too many unnecessary elements, and he started to fragment (cut) his paintings into multiple pieces.He went further to satisfy himself by removing colors from many of the fragments—he had been a black-and-white photographic print maker.Okazaki's paintings were exhibited in these fragments on gallery walls. e.g., The Three Friends Exhibition, TCI Gallery, New York 2008. June19 – July 18, 2007; A haiku poem (" sitting quietly/ in a mountain clearing/ bird song more and more. " by L.A. Davidson, former President of The Haiku Society of America) was written on one of these fragments.

(4) Then he eliminated most of these fragments from a painting; and hung the remaining few pieces on only parts of one wall. e.g., The Hudokai Exhibition, Tokyo Central Museum of Fine Arts 2009 – One Tokyo audience said she could not buy and take home a gallery wall for Okazaki's fragmented paintings.

(5) Next, he re-gathered the remaining fragments in one canvas. e.g., IMAGINE- The Viewer's Ma, Sylvia Wald- Poe Kim Gallery, Inc., NPO, New York 2010.

(6) He reduced the number of the fragments into three or less per painting.

(7) The light was removed from empty space outside the few focal images.

(8) Okazaki started to limit the number and size of his images further – trying to allow viewers' feelings and imagination in the lightless void. e.g., Tadao Okazaki's Ma Painting, Elga Wimmer Gallery, New York 2011 – Ceramics are being produced on Ma principle; Students of representational paintings benefit from principles of Ma; Disaster victims fill the Ma space with their prayer for the dead in Fukushima; Tokyo audience fill the Ma with prayers for recovery in Fukushima. Okazaki wonders if nations can share the global space like the audience and artist share Ma.

(9) "Ma" Paintings is developing – Ceramics are being produced on Ma principle; Students of representational paintings benefit from principles of Ma; The 3-11 earthquake- tsunami- nuclear plant explosion Triple Disaster victims fill the Ma space with their prayer for the dead in Fukushima; Tokyo audience fill the Ma with prayers for recovery in Fukushima. Okazaki wonders if nations can share the global space like the audience and artist share Ma.[2]

Ma painting

Hudokai, Okazaki's limited ten-member national art society, has published over the past 30 years approximately 75-thousand copies of its exhibition catalogues (Founder, Mr. Nobuo Suzuki, 1- 21- 13 Gakuen-Higashi-Machi, Kodaira-Shi, Tokyo 187- 0043; Headquarters, Mr. Takaaki Koba, # 804, Fujimidai 2- 15- 8, Kunitachi-shi, Tokyo 186-0003 Japan.) Each issue carried his painting, among the others', in the following style:

Okazaki cut a painting into sections, and examined each and the whole.

He discarded sections of landscape painting.

He stopped limiting his motif to landscape; limited the number of visual shapes to three – the number of the total lines in one haiku poem.

Poetry

His poems gained such prizes as: Special Prize from "Modern Haiku Magazine" Cicada Prize from "Cicada, the Journal of Canadian Haiku Society"He has published his three-line and free-verse haiku poems in Frogpond; Modern Haiku; Cicada; New Cicada; Bottlerocket; Contemporary Haibun and others.

Published "Free verse haibun" poetry, where the traditionally prose part of haibun is replaced with English free-verse.Okazaki Proposed "Haiku-Ballad Theory," that defines classical haiku form as a tri-meter/ tetra-meter/ tri-meter iambic triplet ballad.

Okazaki is an old member of the Haiku Society of America, and one of very few Japanese who writes and publishes English language poems overseas. He edited New Cicada, an English haiku journal that showcased the works of representative contemporary American and European haiku poets, for 10 years, in Fukushima, Japan.

Published comments related to Ma paintings

(Comments on previous shows of Tadao Okazaki)

"Beautiful,. . . completely original."

Charles Reid, Member of the National Academy[3] " IMAGINE – Viewers' Ma " [4]

"Tadao Okazaki' s work is a performance of sumi and mulberry paper. The imagination of the reality brought about with his solid descriptive technique gives enormous depth and width to his painting."[5]

".. . audience are enjoying his "Ma" Concept paintings and watermedia works. Ma is how not to fill up a space, and Okazaki's one-month long show in New York City this past May had gathered much praise." [6]

"Okazaki used sumi and mulberry paper in painting 'Untitled,' where the fibers of paper and the flow of sumi inspire the audience toward various imagination and views." [7]

".. . "How not to fill a space" is the "Ma Concept," that Mr. Okazaki has proposed... Every painting carries clear images in only small part of the picture space, and the imagination of the viewer is much activated... His works have been displayed at many domestic and overseas locations, and highly praised... " [8]

"Tadao Okazaki is unique with his apparently informel-like atypical style."[9]

".. . Okazaki's simplified painting style entertains the audience by stimulating their imagination."[10]

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. 岡崎, 忠雄 . Science Information Navigator.
  2. 2012 "The Solid Void: On the Ma Paintings by Tadao Okazaki," Dr. Marek Bartelik Published by Wagamido, Tokyo, and New Cicada Press, Fukushima – solo exhibition; without a catalogue.
  3. 2008 Charles Reid's Watercolor Solutions, North Light Books – Charles Reid, a member of the National Academy, USA, and of the Century Club, New York, published two of Okzaki's landscape watercolors in his textbook.
  4. solo exhibition at Sylvia Wald & Poe Kim Art Gallery, May–June 2010. (2010/05/26 communication, written permission for quotes obtained)
  5. Kiyoshi Matsubara, Editor in Chief, All Japan Fine Arts Newspaper, issue # 696, November 2010
  6. Fukusima Minpo Newspaper, November 6, 2010
  7. The Hukushima Min-yu Newspaper, November 5, 2010
  8. The Fukusima Minpo Newspaper, May 5, 2010
  9. The All Japan Fine Arts Newspaper, October 10, 2009
  10. Fukusima Minpo Newspaper, November 27, 2008