Inspired Flower Arrangements [antikvár]

ForewordAs an occasional visitor to flower arrangement exhibitions, I cannot recall ever once having been deeply moved. Panoplies of works by artists of competing schools rise before me through a vague mist, Uke apparitions from some other world.1 do remember clearly, however, that my conception of the art was transformed by my first encounter with the takhana ("standing flower") pieces of Toshiro Kawase. In fact 1 was amazed by what I can only call his magical powers.He is like a master swordsman pulling off impossible feats, or a Magus conjuring all manner of things out of empty space, or an ancient writer of love poems. His mysterious ceremony unfolds in beauty, amid grand, flowing natural rhythms that echo in the soul. 1 was profoundly moved by his every gesture, by the subtleties of his use of emptiness, and by the depth of his insight into the life of flowers. Slowly he identifies with the flowers until, in some incredibly sensuous way, he is one with them. I was reminded of No dancing, out of which arose the medieval aesthetic of ham ("flower"): a sense of freshness and compelling realism, accompanied by deep emotion and a startled awareness that one is seeing something familiar for the first time.As one who responds best to the beauty of flowers growing wild in their natural environments, 1 believe we all have the right to appreciate flowers individually, each in our own way. What makes Mr. Kawase's lakhana arrangements so moving is their vivid manifestation of the dual principles of motion and stillness as they interact in nature.I find the worid of Toshiro Kawasewhere, with complete naturalness and consummate skill, a flower's momentary spark is transformed into an act of artistic creationat once enviable, and vaguely unsettling.Issey Miyake