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About the Artist |
Last year I had the good fortune to meet Setsuko Hayashi. I was brought in by a mutual friend to photograph Setsuko's works of Japanese Textile Dye Art Paintings. I'd never heard of these before then, and now that I have seen and photographed Setsuko's works, I will never be able to forget. There is nothing to compare that I have ever seen in all of my world travels. Japanese Textile Dye Art is an ancient tradition. It is not painting, not printing, but rather a delicate mastery of using wax to create a negative mask, applying dye, curing, and then patiently and meticulously repeating the process again and again until all of the forms and colors of the artist's vision are permanently impregnated into the fibers. Today, only a handful of Artists know and practice this dying art. You might ask, why bother, what with modern mechanized mass printing being used to impress images onto millions and millions of yards of textiles each and every month? In the same way, many people look at a print of the "Mona Lisa" and think... "What's the big deal?"... but then if luck should bless them with a visit to Paris and the Louvre and they see the "Mona Lisa" with their own eyes, they are as if struck by lightning and it becomes one of the most profound and memorable experiences of their life. The real "Mona Lisa" is not a print, and no print ever made has been able to imitate the power of the original. But that is the nature of prints, prints are production imposters of great works. And the same must be said of the photographs here on this website... they do not and cannot, no matter how learned the photographer, ever reproduce the power of Japanese Dye Art. I hope you enjoy the photographs of Setsuko's work... but better still, I hope you can see the originals with your own eyes. Your spirit will be lifted. Best to all, Steven Bolson, Photographer. |
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