Reframing (life)

This is not a multiple exposure. Or maybe it is….myself reflected in David Hockney’s paper pulp painting ‘Pool with Reflection of Trees & Sky’ 1978 at Benesse House museum on the art island of Naoshima, Japan.

This photo also includes two other artworks reflected, one of the ‘Three Chattering Men’ 1986 figures by Joel Shapiro and the architecture of the building itself. It is in essence me immersed in art in Japan all framed and reflected back to me. I look on this very short trip to Japan as a reframing of myself post Masters study. How do I want to see myself as an artist?

What has really struck me in all things Japanese, is the attention to aesthetics and beauty, for their own sake and the eye of the beholder. Whether it is the careful arrangement of a single branch of blossom in a small vase in an alcove, or the way the food is presented on trays each with its own bowl and a coloured stone on which to lay the tip of the chopsticks.

I realise I have had a long love affair with Japan from an early age. My two favourite swap cards were of Japanese women in different coloured kimonos. Then last night I arrived at my hotel in Osaka and turned in the TV to see what Japanese TV was like. There was a rerun of an old ninja movie. I almost recognised the actors! I took all the scenery for granted back when I was eight years old, it was the leaping, daring feats of the ninjas I loved.

Looking at it last night after spending time in traditional guesthouses in Kyoto and Naoshima, I realised that it really encapsulated old world Japan, that of tatami floors, paper sliding screens and the slow making of green tea. Here in this old movie, it showed time passing slow. The careful way the tea was being made was a time ritual, slowing down each movement to make everything a beautiful performance.

It was an insight in how I have had to slow down and surrender to bus timetables and train connections. I arrived at Naoshima on Friday morning, earlier than I expected. All the connections to fast train, slow train, tram and ferry went to clockwork. Everything runs efficiently in Japan. When I got to the shuttle bus I stopped to buy coffee and get change for the bus. When I walked out to the bus stop it was jammed full of tourists so I had to wait until the next one.

That set the tone for missed buses, waiting and finally getting off at the wrong stop and having to walk for two kilometres uphill with my pack on (now a bit heavier with souvenirs for the grandkids) until I reached my accomodation. I nearly cried when I saw the steep stairs to the room while the shared bathroom was downstairs. However it all worked out for the best. I had to stop, rest and then I went out for a wonderful meal in a tiny restaurant the guest house owner suggested. The next day I was able to go to the museum fresh and rested.

Many of the buildings and artworks on the island are about time and the shadows created by the sun through windows and apertures in the roof. The beautiful glass tea house (pictured) encapsulates all of the aesthetics of the island, referencing the views of the water, artists past and present, simplicity, elegance and time in a glass cube, constantly passing through.

This zen way of looking at life is a reframing for me as I prepare for my next three days in a Buddhist temple in the mountains. A reframing of thinking which I will transform into perhaps a reframed way of making.

Glass Tea House “Mondrian” 2014 at the Hiroshi Sugimoto Gallery Time Corridors on Naoshima Island, Japan.