Premio Combat Prize

History of Sumi-e (Japanese ink wash painting)
Sumi-e, Japanese ink wash painting, derived from China and Korea to Japan more than 1.300 years ago. Sumi, Asian ink, with brushes and bamboo pens creates many gradations scale from light gray to pitch black. Artists will combine these gray scale gradation to make his own artwork.
Ink wash painting is not simply to reproduce the appearance of the subject, but to capture its spirit. To paint a horse, the ink wash painting artist must understand its temperament better than its muscles and bones, conveying its liveliness. East Asian ink wash painting can be said regarded as a form of expressionistic art that captures the unseen.

Sumi-e has unique technique

American artist and educator Arthur Wesley Dow (1857–1922) wrote this about ink wash painting: ”The painter ...put upon the paper the fewest possible lines and tones; just enough to cause form, texture and effect to be felt. Every brush-touch must be full-charged with meaning, and useless detail eliminated. Put together all the good points in such a method, and you have the qualities of the highest art”.

Ink wash painting uses tonality and shading achieved by varying the ink density, both by differential grinding of the ink stick in water and by varying the ink load and pressure within a single brushstroke. Ink wash painting artists spend years practicing basic brush strokes to refine their brush movement and ink flow. Astonishing variations in tonality, from deep black to silvery gray. It is the basis for the beautiful nuance in tonality found in East Asian ink wash painting.

Depending on how to use brush or bamboo pen, it tools creates various effects. For example, artist sometimes move tools slow or quick-quick to create images with good points on it, then images show rich and variety in his artwork. Hard line in pitch black, “kasure” (dried hard line), watered thin ink creates “nijimi” and “bokashi” (thin ink is moved into Chinese paper’s cellulose, creating natural unclear contour that it looks like object being seen through fog. These effects is similar to wet-on-wet method in Western watercolor. There is, however, a big difference between watercolor and sumi in this case: First of all, Chinese sumi paper itself, which are highly absorbent and unsized, will not be made wet – dry as it originally.
And second, sumi cannot be over painted like watercolor, that is, only one stroke is strictly required in its technique. With another words, sumi is not allowed any corrections – One stroke is its LIFE of the art. If artist touch the second stroke over it for correction, spirit of artwork will be dead. This is the basic sumi art. Thus, sumi art needs full of energy, concentration and lots of try and error on papers until a best piece will come up.

Yohaku (white space surrounding drawn objects)

Sumi-e characterized by an important factor. The factor is called “yohaku” (white space surrounding drawn objects) “Yohaku” - invisible inner world, talks spirit of artist as well. Thus, sumi jury normally counts on this yohaku as a part of works very intensely.
Drawn objects together with yohaku as an art piece. Here is real sumi-e world.
This is also Japanese spirit, that is, holding visible objects together with yohaku – invisible inner world as a whole. So is Japanese. And some Westerners call it Zen spirit.

My sumi-e

I learnt traditional sumi technique in Japan in my young ages, and since then I have developed my own style, that is, very contemporary graphic style with a extremely simple looking, compared with complex of traditional expressionistic sumi-e in old Asian style.

This artwork shows my images of “past – today – tomorrow”. They look similar but changing a little by little just like our society and myself.

I pursue my inner world, because, I would like to express my philosophy of life in the ways of more simple and less decoration on artworks. Thus, here also “yohaku” plays an important role shown behind my spirit as well as actual objects.

When I face to a new sheet of paper before drawing, I stand in front of a paper with an innocent child’s heart. I leave my hands full of freedom without any intention or some specific thoughts in front of paper, and simply enjoy hand’s movement - improvisation.
Then, my hand creates unique works. I like it.

The sumi work has no unnecessary man-made intention or desire. Simple spirit always leads me to best artworks.
I pursue improvisational output into my works, then works as well look simple and natural. Of course, technique behind is strongly required to create my own master pieces, but I would like to work on artwork beyond showing full of artificial technique which I have leant. They are just salt and pepper as hidden taste for my artworks.

NOTE: A red small sign on my artwork is my signature in a way of sumi art in general, called “Rakkan” (seal). Each sumi artist has his own Rakkan.

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Biography
Mayumi Yamakawa
Haimhauser Str. 23, D-85241 Hebertshausen / Dachau, Germany
Website: www.yamakawa.eu
Email: mayumi@yamakawa.eu
April, 2015


Membership
- MRA Arts Organization, London, UK
- Künstlervereinigung Dachau e.V. (Professional Artists Association), Germany
- 2010 – 2014 Arts Organization Projekt30, New York City / Florida, USA

Works in collection (selection)
Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
NPO Art Magnet, New York City
Stichting (Foundation) Art & Performance, the Netherlands
Landratsamt Dachau (County Authority Office), Germany
Amper Kliniken AG (Hospitals), Dachau, Germany
and Various private art collections in Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland and Japan

Scholarship and awards (selection)

2014 Finalist, ”Florence Shanghai Prize 2014”, Italy/China
2013 Gold medal at the glass art competition ”Premio Murano 2013” during the 55th Venice
Biennale, Venice, Italy
„Artists of Distinction”, 6. Art Magazine Award“, USA
2011 „Top 65 Award“, Competition „Open“ (572 Einreichungen aus 22 Ländern), Florida
„3. Art Magazine Award“ (9 out of 129 artists), USA
„Top 50 Award“, Competition „Nature“ (500 entries 16 countries), Florida
2010 Scholarship, Stichtung (Foundation) Art & Performance, Netherlands

Solo exhibitions (Selection)

2014 Altomünster Museum, Germany
2012 - 2013 Cultural Center of Munich “Kunstforum Arabellapark”, Munich, Germany
2012 Municipal gallery “Kulturschranne”, Dachau, Germany
2009 Hyogo State’s Cultural Center, Kobe, Japan
2008 Municipal cultural Center of Munich “Kulturhaus Milbertshofen”, Munich, Germany

Projects (selection)

2015 Instructor for Summer Akademie, Dachuer Forum, Germany
2014 Instructor for Sumi-e, Cultural Center, Markt Indersdorf, Germany
Film „Your Views“, NOWNESS, New York City, curated by the Turner prize winner
Gillian Wearing, London
2014, 2013 TV film project ”Window Open”, Channel 4 in the UK, curated by Gillian Wearing,
London
2009 Art Book Project ”New York City“, New York City

Group exhibitions and projects (Selection)

2014 Schlossausstellung (Castle exhibition) with 14 guest artists from Brazil, South Africa, Russia
and Paraguay, Dachau Castle, Germany
Arts Organization Projekt30, Florida
2013 A series of exhibition „sidestep“, with Professional Artists Association Augsburg,
Toskanische Säulenhalle (City Art Hall Palace), Augsburg, Germany
Schlossausstellung (Castle exhibition) , Dachau Castle, Germany
Gallery Old City Hall, Priem am Chimsee, Germany (*EuroArt)
Arts Organization Projekt30, Florida
2012 European Art Exhibition (24 artists) „Look, see, express“, Museum Veluwezoom in Kasteel
Doorwerth (Doorwerth Castle), Netherlands
Arts Organization Projekt30, Florida, USA
2011 Municipal gallery Kulturschanne, Dachau, Germany
“Memory Box”, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, USA
Contemporary Drawings, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
European Art Triennale “7. FURAMENT 2011“, Tervuren/Brussels, Belgium
2010 Municipal gallery Kulturschanne, Dachau, Germany
Gallery Vie, Kobe, Japan
7th International exhibition, Duingallery, Netherlands
Municipal gallery, Galerie der KVD, Dachau, Germany
2008 Dankeskirche, International City Festival of Munich, Munich, Germany

Biography

- Studied fashion design in Japan and copyright law in Japan and the USA.
- Worked as a teacher at an university in Kyoto and event management in Tokyo and Kobe/Japan
- Moved to Munich, Germany in 1987
- Founded and operated an advertising & PR Agency in Munich, Germany until 2002

Painting studies

1975 – 1977 Sumi-e (Japanese ink painting/drawing) with Hozan Matsumoto and Hakuyo Sano,
Kobe, Japan
2003 – 2009 Atelierprojekt, Munich, Germany
- studied at class of Stefan Moritz Becker, painting, color theory and and Painting
and
- at class of material science, Stefan Heide, a lecturer at the Munich Academy of Fine
Arts


*Note
EuroArt (European Federation of Artists´ Colonies, Europäische Vereinigung der Künstlerkolonien, Fédération Européenne des Villages d‘ Artistes)
Under the auspices of the European Parliament in 1994, the European Federation of Artists´ Colonies (EuroArt) was officially founded.
Künstlervereinigung Dachau e.V. (Artists‘ Association, Germany) is one of the members of EuroArt.