Sumie on Kimono by TamayoSamejima from japan

What excites me is that Sumie, which contains abundant water, flows, spreads and changes its form in a very short time. And it has a remarkable depth of black color. I have been played with these effects on white Kimono. Kimono’s delicate white color derives the most beauty of the black color. It is 3 dimensional and is changed its shape along with the movement of human. In short, it is a huge, moving and exciting canvas. For my solo show in USA last year, I did live painting performance for white Kimonos while models put them on. In addition, a Butoh dancer performed with the Kimono. The movement of water flows and brush strokes attracted viewers and the dance performance emphasized those effects.

I started Sumie training under a master from 17 years ago when I encountered works by Zen monk Sumi-e master from 14th century through my art history study at college. Since I met a fashion buyer in London in 11 years ago, I had been painting Sumi-e on various clothes, from shirts to Kimono, for well-known Japanese fashion stores and boutiques in Tokyo. I exhibited in Rooms twice.
Sumi ink is made of tree ashes and natural glues. I directly paint free-hand on fabrics and never trace nor use silkscreen. Using a fixing solution in Sumi-e ink made the fabrics washable and thus usable.
I am also working as an art writer with 8 years experience. When I wrote audio guide scripts for Kimono Exhibition, I firstly knew that Sumi-e on Kimono was a fashion in a short period in Edo period, which is most likely forgotten nowadays in Japan. In the early Edo period in Japan, Kimono with Sumi-e painting was the fashion called Kakie-kosode. Aristocratic women desired original and unique paintings and organized gatherings like fashion shows of today displaying painted Kimonos by famous painters. Hand painted Kimono is called Musen-Yuzen, and is regarded as a root of Yuzen – a very common printing technique on Kimono. I am proud of inheriting this tradition.