Flowers Blooming in Lacquer

Flower blooming in lacquer;japan／KEITA + Tsugumichi Matsuyama, Tsugaru lacquer panel

At an exhibition I came upon the work of the lacquer artist Tsugumichi Matsuyama. Its very presence gave off a strange power, holding at once a loveliness and a strength I had never seen before. At once I was seized by the impulse to bring this lacquer and flowers together. By joining the rhythms that these two different kinds of beauty play, they turn into a melody; and out of that new happiness and emotion I wish to deliver a true harmony — one that lives on as a current carrying us beyond a way of thinking weighted toward material things alone, and nurturing a rich spirituality. That this wish was realized makes me feel the precious connection to which the lacquer led me.