ARTWORK // TARASHI-KOMI
Tarashi-Komi (たらしこみ) meaning “dripping in” or “wet on wet” is an ancient Japanese technique initiated by the 17th century painter Ogata Kori in which a second layer of paint is applied before the first layer is dried, creating a blurred effect and dripping.
For this series, made with Sumi-e ink and pigments on a very thin Japanese paper in the shape of a scroll, I combined spontaneity of gesture and some control of form with chance effects ,since the random, translucent shapes of the bleeding, pooling, drips and blurs that occur cannot be predicted. I started with black ink only then, in the later pieces, added colored pigments and sometimes lines of unreadable writing, creating a complex, organic surface. Sometimes I also added another component, pastel. It is most probably because of my interest in early Japanese painting that I started a few years later to study traditional Japanese calligraphy.