Artwork Insight

This work was created using my original painting technique, Cosmic Rhythm, which interprets the wood grain as the rhythm of the cosmos and paints along its natural flow. I regard the wood grain as traces carved by natural forces—time, weather, gravity, seasons, and rotation—an imprint of the cosmic rhythm itself. By following this flow with my brush, I express the worldview of Oneness: that all is one.

The wood used in this work was reclaimed from discarded materials found in the Netherlands. The shapes, marks, and traces of aging remaining there tell the silent stories of human life. By collecting, cleansing, and reviving what was once thrown away, the work embodies themes of circulation, sublimation, and a reflection on our relationship with the environment.

By incorporating luminescent and interference pigments, the painting reveals diverse expressions as the light changes. In darkness, it emits a gentle glow—its radiance resembling distant stars, or the flicker of subatomic particles and energy itself.

Furthermore, this work pays homage to Katsushika Hokusai, who was a central figure in the Japonisme movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I have sampled and allowed the figures from one of his works, Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji: Tama River in Musashi Province (Fugaku sanjurokkei: Bushu Tamagawa), to be reborn through time within this piece. These motifs, along with iconic symbols such as Mount Fuji and the red Hinomaru, are colored using traditional Japanese pigments (Iwa-enogu).

I consider this work to be a collaborative existence in which the rhythm of the cosmos and the stories of humankind resonate together as one.