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Rain in the Valley of time Collage

Naoko Benom-Miura

Japan

Collage, Ink on Paper

Size: 5.9 W x 7.9 H x 2.7 D in

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$1,800

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ABOUT THE ARTWORK

One day, I had a strange dream. It was probably during the Edo period, I was rocking along gently on a horse, wearing a kimono. An old man and a young man were walking next to my horse, one on each side. Maybe I had been the princess in a small castle, and something had happened, and I had lost all but two servants. Everything was gone. I slowly proceeded towards some town, silent and empty. Then I dismounted, and entered an old house where I picked up a large brush, dipped it in black ink, and began writing. I was a Master of calligraphy. I woke up and thought, “i wonder if that was me in a previous life." If this person was my previous life, it would make sense. The reason for this is that sometimes I have a sudden and intense need to write calligraphy. It's something uncontrollable, a desire of the soul. The days after this dream, the intense desire arose in me once again. This work is one of those that I made at that time. However, the work I did during this period can be decisively different. The characters written at this time are in a script called "cursive" and they break down ordinary kanji into their barest form. Most Japanese people cannot read or write them. I have been learning calligraphy since I was young, but I cannot write in cursive. But for some reason, the letters I wrote at this time look like cursive letters, though it’s not clear what they say, or if they say anything at all. I wrote smoothly without any hesitation, just as I had done in that dream. Maybe this is just artwork in which I simply took the design form from Japanese calligraphy and enjoyed playing with that form. But if these happen to be real kanji, and it turns out to be a sentence, I wonder what it says. ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー Ink on Japanese paper. A stone is attached, which is stuck to a cloth. The cloth is coated with resin. The work is made in a box frame with glass in front. Since acid-free materials are not used, they may deteriorate over time. This is part of the artistic evolution of this piece. I hope you enjoy watching the aging process.

DETAILS AND DIMENSIONS
Collage:

Ink on Paper

Original:

One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:

5.9 W x 7.9 H x 2.7 D in

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One day, when I was 8, I had to draw my mom as a homework assignment. After painting my mom's face. I worked on the background, adding bright red. Strangely, my mom's face looked like it shrank as I changed the background. I was shocked to see how colors change what we perceive in our minds and with our eyes. That was when I decided to become an artist. I worked on sketches, pencil drawings, and design all day from morning to night, and sometimes even in my dreams in order to enter an art college. i was able to enter art school in Tokyo, majoring in textile design, and stayed in Tokyo after college to work as a graphic designer. After 8 years of this hectic lifestyle, I felt like I was totally lost. I knew I needed to change everything right then. I chose to leave Japan, and went to Los Angeles, California, and then, to Eugene, Oregon, to work on my art and my life. I worked for a clay artist, and went to the University of Oregon to study more about art, design and English. Then, I worked at a design office as a graphic designer, and another company as a web designer. Now, I know what I was looking for when I was doing that. I was looking for the answer these questions. “What’s my relationship with design? What’s my relationship with art?” I was frustrated that I couldn’t get any answers. I began to think, “If there is a God of art, they must hate me! Fine! I hate them too!” I suffered through a year in which I could not create anything. I deeply realized I just have to keep creating art, otherwise I will be dead, even if the God of art hates me. In 2007, when I was working as a graphic designer, one of my clients misordered and gave me an illustration job, not a graphic design job. But, for some reason, I decided to take that job. That illustration job reminded me of the homework when I drew my mom back in elementary school. I felt like I finally found the answer that I was looking for the whole time! This is when I really started to be an illustrator and artist. After 9 years of living in America, I returned to Japan in 2008. In 2014, I opened an office/ workshop in a little port town in Fukuoka with people who work on town development and planning. I started to consider art from a social point of view. That was also a big turning point for me. In 2017, I started to take story classes with professor Minoru Meguro, learning the art of poetry and literature. I started to develop a broader love for the existence of art.

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