Michele Benzamin Miki – Ascending

Description

Artist Statement

My intention is to create a whole body state of being present through my painting. I have been practicing and teaching Zen and the non-violent martial arts of Aikido and Japanese sword forms that compliment these disiplines, for over four decades. The brush work comes from an inner stillness before and while I create a piece.

In Japanese art and calligraphy the term Ma means the space around the brush strokes, it is also the experience of the inner pause while creating the strokes, and the constant awareness of space between the artist and the viewer. In everyday life it is the pause during conversations, the deliberate silence in a ritual, a moment of reflection in a busy day.

The work starts with energy. Brush meets paper or canvas with paint or Japanese ink. Familiar movements to me from the movement of my sword. Interplay of brush, body, and paper.

After reflecting on the piece I may leave it as it is, or add detailed drawing in pencil or other media. I integrate female figurative forms, elevating, illuminating the bodies into the brush strokes. The female figure reveals her vulnerability, strength and agency.

Meditating bypasses the rational, critical, and judging mind, so that creative, intuitive and subconscious forces can enter. Dream states also bypass the conscious gatekeepers. Much of my work has been inspired by my dreams. In 2006 I had a dream I entered the palace of a great emperor, who took me into a large white room filled with enormous black and white paintings. Before waking from the dream I asked the emperor, “Who is this artist?” He replied, “This is your art!”

In 2013 I started to combine my figurative realism with calligraphic brushwork.

The integration of my art — Japanese brush with Figurative Realism — reflects my mixed Japanese and European heritages.