SAMURAI I
INDIGENOUS PATHWAYS / COINCIDENCE CORNERS
The backgrounds of these two collages (gouache & India ink) reference the Kimono pictured in Clothes of Samurai Warriors, a book that found in a thrift store in Japan. The collage began with figures cut from a photograph of a mural depicting indigenous life -Playa Escondido, Oaxaca in 2018.
There is a library at the entrance to my studio floor which I call the coincidence corner. Coincidence is a medium. A play with serendipity. Found books provide fodder.
Extracted boats from Jonas Lies catalogue of paintings; a cat, some sculptures, and brooms Joseph Solomon included in paintings of his studio; An FMR magazine from March 1985 details from Kandinsky, Elementa depictions of animal species by Joris Hoefnagel 1576-1577; paintings of the new world (Brazil) in 1638-1644 by Dutch Painter Albert Eckhout. Plus a shell painted by Carravagio affixed to a Solman motorcycle Mirror.
The Way of the Samurai
The Way of the Samurai is found in death.
(Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Every day when one’s body and mind are at peace, one should meditate upon being ripped apart by arrows, rifles, spears, and swords. Being carried away by surging waves. Being thrown into the midst of a great fire. Being struck by lightning, being shaken to death by a great earthquake. Falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease, or committing seppuku at the death of one’s master. And every day, without fail, one should consider himself as dead. This is the substance of the Way of the Samurai)
excerpt from Hagakure by Yamamoto Tsunetomo, 1709-1716
slide show: collages and silhouettes made from images from Clothes of Samurai Warriors book, contemporary images found in Engineered Garments and Nepenthis catalogues acquired on a trip to Japan, June 2025, the lexicon of my self portraits, family archives and historical postcards from Paris.
