lucid writing

one-hundred words about the kisokaido project:

my project will involve walking from kyoto to tokyo, a trek of roughly 330 miles. hiroshige’s series of woodblock prints “the 69 stations of the kisokaido line” (1834-1842) set along the same route will provide the compositional basis for my work. i intend to make digital collages, replacing all the elements in each of his prints with photographic and video imagery of the same geography present day. the individual pieces will subsequently be combined through time. for example, the background of #43 could be paired with elements from foreground of #32. this dynamic collage will be viewable online.

under five-hundred words about the kisokaido project (you may notice some similarities in the opening paragraph):

my project will involve walking from kyoto (the ancient capital of japan) to tokyo (the modern capital), a trek of roughly 330 miles. hiroshige’s series of woodblock prints “the 69 stations of the kisokaido line” (1834-1842) set along the same route will provide the compositional basis for my work. i intend to make digital collages, replacing all the elements in each of his prints with photographic and video imagery of the same geography present day. the individual pieces will subsequently be combined through time. for example, the background of #43 could be paired with elements from foreground of #32. this dynamic collage will be viewable online.

when approaching artmaking in general, or any specific project, the questions “what is timeless?” and “what is contemporary?” are always considerations. how can i make something relevant to people today, interesting to me, which pays homage to artists of prior generations?

currently, when initiating any new project, i also have a few basic ground rules, which could be broken, but more often than not i adhere to: 1) it will be a two-dimensional piece of visual art; 2) it will utilize technology to create a work which would not have been feasible in 1971 (the year of my birth); 3) it will constantly change, so although the work will remain identifiable, any time it is seen the viewer will see something which has likely never been seen before (by anybody) and will likely never be seen again (by anybody). as far as we know nothing in the universe is static, and the same can be said about clouds or a waterfall, which do indeed provide me with inspiration, but this is part of my still-developing criteria which enable me to paint despite having grown up at a time when paint appeared to be marginal and irrelevant, an era of atari and star wars and m*a*s*h.

when considering the kisokaido trek, and hiroshige’s work, the following seemed pertinent:

- hiroshige’s work was largely accessible, mass-printed for widescale distribution, not hidden in galleries or museums seen only by a select few (which led me to say “this project will be viewable online”);

- what he basically did, i believe, is firstly observe, and secondly, present his observations (of what was there, what was beautiful) to those who couldn’t take that kind of time or pay that kind of attention;

- the method of woodblock printing involves blocking out very clearly-defined areas of form and color in space, layered one on top of the other.

it then occurred to me to use whatever is currently visible on the kisokaido trek as elements in collages based on the composition of his works.