​Visual artists
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"taking calligraphy to new dimensions"

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Saiso Shimada


Saiso Shimada is one of Japan's most exciting calligraphers.

After more than fifty years' practice of her art she has entered a new phase, 
which she calls 'playing', of increased creative freedom and personal expression. 
The range and intensity of Shimada's current work is truly outstanding.

For a European, one's first encounter with contemporary Japanese calligraphy is an unforgettable experience: the discovery not just of a new artist but of what is in effect a new art form. With a single character carrying a complete meaning, the character can be 'written' in such a way that it simultaneously evokes its meaning in purely pictorial terms — more or less figurative, more or less abstract. The works can also be of an epic scale: a single character can fill one wall of a gallery. 

The closest comparison would be with the presence and power of New York abstract expressionist paintings (New York artists such as Kline and Motherwell were deeply influenced by Japanese and Chinese calligraphy of course).

Saiso Shimada standing in front of 'Ondulation' (French title) or 'Wave Motion' of 2009 (private collection, UK) at an exhibition in Paris

These works also have a particular relation to time. It is especially true of a calligraphy that the time which counts is not the brief period of its making but the decades of training and dedication that preceded it. But more importantly, like an 'action painting' a calligraphy is the real-time trace of the energy and gestures of its own creation. Nothing can be altered or reworked. The work is the record of a moment of intensity in which the calligrapher was given over completely to the act of expression, in something akin to a state of possession. Frequently the character has multiple meanings and the greatest calligraphers, such as Mrs. Shimada, can suggest them all.
 
In her current work, Shimada also creates multi-panel pieces, either multiple realisations of one character, like a set of variations in music, 
or an assemblage of different characters 
to form a suite, a complex interlocking of meanings and associations. 

Non-Japanese speakers must obviously miss some, one might fear many, of the layers of meaning, but it is amazing how much one does understand. In conversations with the artist, she has expressed surprise at the degree to which this is the case. It is one more proof of the power of   her work.  

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 panels 4, 5 and 6 - 'Symbiosis', 'Peace' and 'Prayer' - of a 6 panel work of 2009  (private collection UK)                                 

In his introduction to the monograph 'Cosmic Calligraphy - The World of Saiso Shimada' (2017), Aleksey Bogolyubov of The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, recognised the unique quality of the artist's work, writing of how she has taken calligraphy 'to new dimensions as an art form'.

Saiso Shimada regularly gives calligraphy workshops, in Japan and abroad (most recently in France and Greece). Participants come away not just with new skills, but an insight into the philosophy underlying Mrs. Shimada's work and a sense of the fulfilment possible when technical mastery and creative energy meet. 'Japanese Calligraphy Lesson' by Saiso Shimada, available on You Tube with English subtitles, gives a good idea of her teaching. The very opening explains powerfully and in few words the spirit and huge ambition which animate her work. Click here to see it.
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A version with English subtitles of the 2010 DVD about Saiso Shimada is now available.

Please visit the artist's website (link below) to see many more examples of her work. You will also find some of her paintings including the remarkable Peace Nos. 1 and 2, and ceramics.

Saiso Shimada biography                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Artist's website  
Saiso Shimada news                                                                                        Monograph: 'Cosmic Calligraphy The World of Saiso Shimada'
Exhibitions in Paris and Brussels in 2017                                                                                                                                                 Books

top photo of Saiso Shimada from 'Cosmic Calligraphy'; other photos: IAR