Michele Benzamin-Miki – wake

Description

Artist Statement

I have been practicing and teaching Zen and the non-violent martial arts of Aikido and Japanese sword forms that compliment these disiplines, for over four decades. The brush work comes from an inner stillness before and while I create a piece. In Japanese art and calligraphy the term Ma means the space around the brush strokes, it is also the experience of the inner pause while creating the strokes, and the constant awareness of space between the artist and the viewer. In everyday life it is the pause during conversations, the deliberate silence in a ritual, a moment of reflection in a busy day.
Brush meets paper or canvas with paint or Japanese ink.
After reflecting on the piece I may leave it as is, or add drawing in pencil or other media. I integrate female figurative figures forms, elevating, illuminating the bodies into the brush strokes. The integration of my art -Japanese brush with Figurative Realism – reflects my mixed Japanese and European heritages.