Hiroshi Senju as One of the Renowned Japanese Artists - Report Example

Introduction The field of art has played a critical role in society for over a million years; various societies have exhibited varying modes of arts while others have shown considerable similarities. The meaning of art has also been given varying descriptions in the society. Additionally, there have also been significant changes applied in the field of art in order to enhance its quality and give more meaning to the audience. Specifically, technology has played a vital role in modification of arts; on the other hand, other societies have focused on maintaining their traditional modes of practicing arts, viewing it as a tourist attraction feature. The maintenance of traditional modes of arts has also been viewed as pertinent to societies that are enthusiastic in keeping their traditional cultural values. In each community, there are several famous artists who have received tremendous respect from their communities due to the quality and consistency of their art work. This discussion will focus one of Japanese renowned artist, Hiroshi Senju (www.artnet.com). Hiroshi Senju Biography Hiroshi was born in the City of Tokyo Japan in the year 1958; he attained his undergraduate degree from Tokyo National University of Music and Fine arts in 1982 having completed a course in Nihonga. Later in 1984, he attained a Masters Degree in Fine Arts from the same university. In the year 1987, he graduated from Tokyo National University of Music and Fine Arts having completed his PhD course program in Fine Arts. Senju’s dimension of work Hiroshi Senju’s work takes the nihonga form of art; before he joined the Tokyo National University, Senju in one of his interviews argues that the main reason for his focus towards the Nihonga form of art emerged from his personal interest in this dimension of art. Nihonga Art The nihonga art is one of the most famous dimensions of Japanese Paintings; the painting is conducted in relation to Japanese culture and has been viewed as an imperative form of art in the society over time. This mode of painting is conducted on a special material, the washi, which is a typical Japanese silk made paper (www.arnet.com). Moreover, this form of art takes two main dimensions in that they can be monochrome or polychrome. The monochrome nihonga is fundamentally developed by creating paintings through the use of sumi; sumi is a famous Chinese ink that is developed from a mixture of soot and glue extracted from fish bones (www.arnet.com) On the other hand, the Polychrome nihonga is essentially, created from various natural materials such as; shells, malachite, corals as well as relatively less precious tone materials. This mixture is processed by adding materials like nikawa that binds the materials together to form the ultimate painting material. Nihonga Techniques The polychrome nihonga involves giving a greater consideration to the creation of outlines; outlines may not be necessary in the creation of some paintings of birds or even plants. In some instances, pigmentation layers may be applied on the painting in order to create contrasts. This technique has many artists placing silver colors on their paintings (www.dillongallery.com). Consequently, the technique applied on the monochrome dimension entire relies on the variety of different ink tones ranging from lighter to darker inks. This variation of ink tone is conducted with the main focus of ensuring that a variety of coloration is achieved to create a picture of nature such as; mountains, trees, foliage and water (www.dillongallery.com) Nihonga in other Countries This practice has received a massive following in other countries apart from Japan; one of the Nihonga artists who carry out this form of art outside Japan is the famous Hiroshi Senju. Other artists are Judith Kruger and Fujimura Makoto who are both based in America, Yiching Chen who is based in Taiwan as a nihonga lecturer. In Canada, this form of art has been enormously practiced by Tanobe Miyuki while, in India, this dimension of art is currently practiced by the famous Jain Madhu. Specifically, in the United States of America, this form of art is currently taught in the School of Art Institute of Chicago as well as in the Savannah Institute of Arts in Georgia (www.ebay.com) The current Nihonga practice has dominated most of the art exhibition in the famous Dillon Art Gallery, in New York City. The basics information of Nihonga Practice was rapidly disseminated by the founding fathers and has seen the current generation considerably applying the knowledge (www.dillongallery.com) Among the pioneers of Nihonga art are; Hiroshi Senju, Okamura Keizaburo, Saito Norihiko, Murakami Takashi and Wenguang Chen who are all former graduates of the Tokyo National University. These artists have taken a leading role in the dissemination of the Nihonga Art knowledge in various parts of the world where they have acted as lectures together with the exhibition of pieces of their work. Modern Universities have also recognized the importance of Nihonga art and taken the initiative to invite these knowledgeable persons to give speeches of motivation to the students aiming to specialize in Nihonga art (www.sundaramtagore.com). Hiroshi Senju Successful Works The beginning of his success was recognized in the year 1987, when he graduated with PhD Degree in the Tokyo National University; his art work that was presented in Switzerland in the Basal Art Fair was purchased as a greater value by the Tokyo University (Senju pg.3). He also participated in various art exhibitions where most of his works were selected and ranked the best for instance: In 1993, his art work was largely recognized in the United States of America and selected to act as a cover for the New York art Gallery. In the year 1994, he participated in an organized Art Book Fair that was held in Bologna, Italy. During this occasion, his work was selected as the best, an action which made him receive the Fourth Kanebuchi Award of Picture Books (Senju pg.5) Consequently, he has also received tremendous appreciation for various universities and Museums such as the Yamatane Museum that purchases approximately thirty pieces of his work encompassing the early buildings and the current waterfall art works. In 1995, he also received an honorary Award of the 46th La Biennal Di Venezia (Senju pg.7) Furthermore, in 1997 his art works received recognition due to their excellence that saw a substantial amount of his art work being purchased by the Cultural Affairs in the United States of America. Major Museums like the Hiroshima Art Museum has also recognized his art works and purchased some like the famous ‘August Sky and Cloud.’ From the year 2000 extending up to the year 2005, he received outstanding art awards such as the Kawakita Michiaki Award that was conducted during the Ryoyonome Exhibition; the 13th MOA awards. In the year 2003, he successfully completed a painting with a dimension of 3 meters in width and 25 meters in length that depicts, the Grand Hyatt, who was the then Director of the Tokyo International Research of Arts (Senju pg.12). Later in 2004, he was appointed the Art director of the Haneda Airports Terminal with the responsibility, to develop a mural measuring 12 meters in length. Hi main contribution of was also recognized in 2005 when he provided an excellent staging and interpretation related to Intangible Cultural Asset. At the present time, he holds the position a Vice President in the famous Kyoto University of Design and Art where he is also the Director in the Department of International Arts Research Center. The Kyoto University has also allocated him with the role of directing the processes at the Kyoto Museum (Senju pg.13). Hiroshi Senju’s Works One of his main current art works that have received a lot of appreciation is the famous Waterfall Painting: It focuses at the bottom of the waterfall where the water thrashes at the pool below it and characteristically crops out of the waterfall. A painting of the waterfall created in 2012. A painting of the Waterfall created in 2011. Hiroshi Senju believes that the waterfall paintings are an excellent representation of nature and asserts that they are pertinent part of nature which should be immensely appreciated by humankind. This emanates from his belief that man and nature have a strong dimension of a relationship. He also believes that the aspect of applying cosmetics especially among women has started as early as over a hundred million year ago with the careful observation of the cosmos by the early man. This perception, therefore, supports the fact that cosmetics may be one of the oldest forms of art which can be meticulously be represented by the nihonga form of art. Another excellent current art work created by Hiroshi Senju is the Shofuso; which is a mural representing a typical Japanese Garden somewhere in Philadelphia. A painting of the Shofuso created in 2011. The painting above depicts the murals Hiroshi Senju’s motif and the waterfall that were placed on the sliding doors of a certain building in Philadelphia and on the center piece walls of the same building. This piece of art work has been made accessible to the general public since 2007 and is currently the only Shofuso piece of work in the entire United States of America. Other pieces of his work are the; cliff, falling colors, lakeside in the morning and the famous night music. Developments Created in the name Hiroshi Senju In 2011, the Hiroshi Senju Kuriazawa was officially opened in Nagano; this museum designed in a manner that it has tow main windows with a slightly sloping concrete floor. The ceiling of the museum is supported by a scattered concrete wall around the museum. All the processes of the museum are managed through the International Cultural College Foundation that has purchased approximately one hundred pieces of Senju’s art work. Almost half of these pieces are available to the general public at any time. Roles of Hiroshi Senju’s Work Most of Hiroshi’s work depicts various aspects of the natural environment; this has been recognized as pertinent in the creation of a stronger relationship between man and nature due to the fact that most of painting create a feeling of the beauty of nature (Laur pg.64). Additionally, his piece of work has been imperative in the maintenance of the Japanese traditional form of art, the Nihonga. This has an ancient mode of Japanese painting that majorly involves the application of various traditional Japanese painting materials like soot, fish bone marrow glue and other semi precious Japanese stones. Hiroshi and other nihonga artists have played a key role in storing this knowledge as well as the facilitation such knowledge to the current generation (Laur pg.67). Consequently, there have been various aspects of socio-economic development emanating from certain pieces of Hiroshi’s art work. Several museums have expanded their operations through increased range of art gallery exhibition by purchasing a large number the nihonga art fro instance; the opening of the Hiroshi Senju Kuriazawa Museum in the 2011. Hiroshi Senju as a role model to most upcoming artists has acted as a major source of motivation hence improving their learning capacities and widening the field of arts. Hiroshi Senju and other nihonga artists have played vital roles in motivating upcoming nihonga artists through their motivational speeches and lectures (Laur pg.69) In terms of economic development, nihonga art has led to the creation of job opportunities through the development of new art museums and the creation of exhibition contests where artists have received awards in terms of honorary certificated and provision of financial rewards (Laur pg.71). Senju’s Recommendations to Upcoming Artists Hiroshi Senju believes that for every artist aspiring to be successful, it is imperative that they have a strong belief in the capacity of their talent. The belief that one can achieve maximum results is the drive behind success. Moreover, artist should be persevering people to enable him/her overcome certain obstacles that are frequently faced in the field of art (www.sundaramtagore.com). According to Senju, it is imperative fro artists to keep and aspire to create their own originality. This can be achieved through research innovation as well as the avoidance of over reliance of other artists’ pieces of work. Senju asserts in one of his conversation with the media that artists who extensively admires other people artistic works tend to loss their originality hence limiting their capacity to create new ideas (www.sundaramtagore.com). Consequently, it is imperative that upcoming artists develop the mentality of being problem solvers; the field of art is characterized by myriad challenges that may discourage one from attaining his goals. Some artists tend to seek alternative basic modes of operation hence end up producing low quality work. This can be avoided by creating solutions to potential or even existing problems in order for consistent production (www.sundaramtagore.com). Work Cited Fine Art, Decorative Art, and Design - The Art World Online: artnet." Fine Art, Decorative Art, and Design - The Art World Online: artnet. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2012. . Dillon Gallery. Dillon Gallery Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2012. . Electronics, Fashion, Collectibles and Coupons. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2012. . Laur, Kenneth. Nihonga: Japanese Art.. Hamilton: Hamilton Art Gallery., 2011. Print. Senju, Hiroshi. Senju Hiroshi no taki = Hiroshi Senju : my waterfall.. Tōkyō: Kyūryūdō, 2007. Print. Sundaram Tagore Gallery. Sundaram Tagore Gallery. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2012. . Read More