Shibori Bridge

24″x30″
Acrylic on canvas

$516 + tax, shipping

“Shibori Bridge” is based on a photograph my son took while he was visiting Kyoto, Japan. The photograph was taken on a bright sunny day; that reminded me of Monet’s garden. At first, I painted a fairly realistic landscape resembling the original photograph. But that didn’t capture the atmosphere I wanted to create. I needed to make this painting “imperfect.”

I pictured old Kyoto, filled with its beautifully aged wood buildings. I thought of several Japanese design philosophies: Shibori, an 8th century resist-dyeing technique. Kintsugi, where fixing a broken piece of ceramic can make the object even more beautiful than it was unbroken. And Furoshiki, where wrapping an object is as important as what it covers. I wanted my painting to embrace all those philosophies.

In my painting, there are patches of indigo blue cloth (Shibori). The broken landscape is glued together in gold (Kintsugi). And the scene is wrapped in a grey haze, with shards of light peeking through (Furoshiki). And the bridge serves as a uniting factor for all these elements.

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Author: asgraboyes

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