Embedded Files
ART
I’ve been a sumi-e practitioner for a couple of years now, though I first turned to it out of necessity. It was at a time when I began developing hand arthritis from drawing with a pen. While painkillers offered relief, they weren’t a sustainable solution for someone who hoped to be drawing until my last breath.
Then came a lightbulb moment: monks continue to draw and write in great detail well into their nineties - some even to a hundred!
Surely that wasn’t by dedication alone. I thought there had to be a principle or a physicality to it!
That then led me to discover that the brush grip techniques and postures in sumi-e are designed to create expressive lines with minimal strain on the hands, fingers, and wrist.
And so I let go of the pen - and held fast to the brush.
As a visual storyteller working primarily in ink, I was drawn to film noir - where stark contrasts of light and shadow create suspense, danger, and moral ambiguity.
While sumi-e originates from Zen tradition and noir from Western cinema, they meet in their ability to evoke emotion through black ink on white space. Over time, my use of the brush gradually and naturally evolved into a style that merges the two. Why not?
After all, both Sumi-e and Noir translate, quite literally, to BLACK. Different origins, one word: BLACK.
Google Sites
Report abuse