Mizuha: Ganryu to Rongui (The Round Dragon and the Dragon Turtle)
“Mizuha” is an artwork born from the desire to be with the water deity.
This piece is based on Toto Akihiko’s ideas about how karakami is made hand in hand with all the gods and spirits while igniting the energy from the ripples.
Succession with discontinuity
Beauty appears in the seemingly disjointed irregularity of the movements, creating a rhythm in the picture as a whole, through a series of irregular motions.
Beauty in the unevenness, beauty in the shading, beauty in the blank spaces…
Fluctuations of shadows, vestiges, signs…
These things comprise the Japanese esthetic, and it is in karakami, in which dwells the beauty of unevenness, where I try to find the ultimate beauty possible.
“Mizuha” has been presented numerous times in various forms since 2014, and this is the 2019 version.
In this karakami piece lies the story about the tortoise, a messenger for the gods who takes people’s prayers and flies into the sky to become a dragon, fulfilling the prayers while keeping watch over world peace.
2019 Spring
Toto Akihiko