2004 – SANTOKA, HOMAGE to TANEDA SANTOKA

2004 Santoka 01
2004 Santoka 19
2004 Santoka 37
2004 Santoka 48
2004 Santoka 54
2004 Santoka 78
2004 Santoka 96


HOMAGE to TANEDA SANTOKA
96 free-style Haikus
Technique: sequence of single prints, cycle of 96 +2 works, oil colour on Japanese paper
Size: 4 blocks 20 x 14 cm, paper 21 x 15 cm, more than 300 floating pieces
Year: 2004
The free-style Haiku poet Taneda Santoka (1882 – 1940) lived the larger part of his life as a homeless Buddhist-monk-beggar. Crossing from south to east, west to north of Honshu, he gave in a deep, sensual way most simple metaphors for most complicated associative processes.
Inspired by his pure, down to earth, up to heaven humanity, I choose 96 of his Haikus to pay homage. Woodcuts as background-stimuli, dried leafs of seashore lilies, hair roots of distant trees, I chose them all to add – forming Roman ciphers to number the Haikus – a flair of Europe; as a visual impact to the eternal metaphors of Taneda Santoka.