Oki Toshie

OKI TOSHIE

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Ripples, 2013 7.25 × 13.75 × 9 inches

OKI TOSHIE Traditional apprenticeship for bamboo artists has all but disappeared over the last century, but the transmission of traditions can take other paths. Oki Toshie was a young woman interested in art when she saw an exhibition by Living National Treasure Iizuka Shokansai. This experience changed her life.

Soon she was studying under Master Shokansai, who had learned from his father, the legendary bamboo artist Rokansai. In Oki, Shokansai found a gifted and dedicated student to whom he could pass on the high expectations of the Iizuka lineage.

Oki has dealt with the great weight on her shoulders as a student of Shokansai’s by focusing on doing the best she can in the present moment, working step by step to improve her technical and creative abilities, and never comparing herself to her teacher. Oki has said she hopes that over years of working with dedication and focus she will eventually make art worthy of a student of Iizuka Shokansai. I think this exhibition proves she has emerged from all artistic shadows.

One of the things Oki loves about being a bamboo artist is the challenge of creating an expressive object within the constraints of a functional form, like a basket, tray, or box. Many of her recent works are created through line construction with heat - bent bamboo strips that, once assembled, evoke carved wood.

Oki feels line construction offers her more freedom when creating shapes than plaited bamboo techniques could.

Oki’s artistic priorities are not purely formal. As much as she wants to make an outwardly beautiful work, her training stoked her expressive ambition — to show in each piece a point of inspiration beyond the bamboo tradition, usually located in her love of nature or her experiences with family and friends.

Be on the alert for subtlety when viewing this exhibition. Oki’s shapes are refined and can be appreciated at first glance, but look for nearly hidden key details. Ripples is a handsome boat - shaped work of stacked bamboo with a pulsing moiré effect, but only when the light is right can you see that Oki has

Heavenly Garment, 2020, 15.75 × 10.5 × 10.5 inches

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bent the strips back and forth at slight alternating angles to form an ingenious faceting that reminds me of hammered metal work. I cannot think of another example of bamboo art with a surface transformed so suggestively.

And, something you will never want to do when looking at this show, is to assume symmetry in the trays! Expected proportions and ratios are often tweaked. Oki likes using asymmetry to convey the kind of movement and flow seen in nature, be it the rhythm of tides, the rush of waters and wind, or the lacy patterns of waves washing across the sand at the beach where she plays with her two children.

Tidal Rush, an oval, handled tray from 2020, was created during a difficult time, and this influenced its final design. Oki began the tray shortly before the Pandemic, wanting to convey the power of a tidal bore, the wave created by a strong incoming tide that flows up the mouth of a river, two strong currents driving headlong into each other. The artist’s distress as Japan locked down and her worry about the future became emotionally linked to memories of Japan’s tragic Tohoku Tsunami which had occurred nine years before to the month. Tidal Rush’s amazing expressionistic handle, unlike anything I’ve seen before on a formal tray, conveys a tornado - like vortex of forces that just might be a portrait of a personal journey through an anxious time.

More classical in the sense of balance and restraint is Beating of Wings. The inner wall of this basket is made of aligned bent strips that, with any movement on the part of the viewer, create a flipbook sense of fluttering wings as light reflects across angled surfaces. Expressing the beating of wings might have been the artist’s goal, but for me, as I look down into the artwork, I imagine being surrounded by jungle foliage, palm leaves waving in the foreground, light flickering through vines and tree trunks behind. With her brilliant design, Oki can suggest much of the beauty that exists in the various corners of our experience of the world. Oki’s desire to make great art by way of a utilitarian form has certainly been achieved. n Steve Halvorsen, 2022

Wind in the Heavens, 2014, 15.75 × 9.5 × 9.5 inches

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Tidal Rush, 2020 9.5 × 18.5 × 11.25 inches

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ART IST STAT EMENT My first encounter with bamboo art was when I visited Iizuka Shokansai’s exhibition while I was still in high school. I was amazed that a utilitarian object such as a basket could be a vehicle for artistic expression. I had always enjoyed looking at painting and other art forms, but this was my first encounter with the field of kogei [craft art].

I was also impressed by the diversity and creativity of what I saw. The pieces ranged from very delicate to bold, and all were clean and beautiful in form. Furthermore, Iizuka Shokansai’s works seemed to possess contradictory charms: delicate and powerful, bold and lovely, all at the same time.

I well remember leaving the venue with the feeling that the scales had fallen from my eyes, knowing that such a world existed.

Not being an extrovert, I must have been hungry to express myself in a different way. I went to Iizuka to become an apprentice.

This is how I started my career in bamboo art. My strong desire is to create work that will move the hearts of those who see them. I try to balance my personal expression with beauty of form. It is a constant process of trial and error, but I am proud to say that I put my heart and soul into each piece I create.

One of the things I learned from my mentor is abstraction. Since the medium of bamboo is not well suited to the creation of figurative works, the artist needs to use abstraction in order to convey their ideas and inspiration. He said that Japanese craftsmen express themselves within the constraints of the form of the object. I am convinced that Japanese people are particularly good at expressing themselves within the limitations of a fixed form, such as in haiku and tanka poetry.

Expressing myself is fun; however, the process of creation is difficult ... I must choose only one out of an infinite number of shapes and lines. Without a strong desire to share my vision, my hands would stop midway. When I am able to complete a work of art that successfully realizes this desire in a physical form, I feel a joy that cannot be expressed in words. Although I am still a long way from my reaching my master’s level, I would like to use this joy to continue to create and grow.

I am honored to have had the opportunity to hold my very first solo exhibition at TAI Modern. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the gallery staff, the teachers and seniors who taught and guided me, and my family for their support. n Oki Toshie 11

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Echo, 2019 3.75 × 14.75 × 14.75 inches

Snowy Peaks, 2 017 9 × 17 × 8 inches

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Daybreak, 2 015, 5.25 × 11.75 × 5.75 inches ( two views )

Stellar Tides, 2019 3.5 × 17 × 17 inches

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Dragon Gate, 2018 10.25 × 15 × 15 inches

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Revelation, 2 015 4.25 × 12.5 × 17.25 inches

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Splash, 2020 3.75 × 17 × 11.5 inches

Sweet Dew, 2022, 17.5 × 10 × 10.5 inches

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Beating of Wings, 2021 10.75 × 18 × 18 inches

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Swift Water, 2017 3.5 × 21 × 13 inches

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Water’s Edge, 2019 6.5 × 17.75 × 11.75 inches

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1601 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM 87501 505.984.1387

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