La Machine Creates Dragon for Latest Performance

Photographer Shinichi Maruyama employs cutting-edge technologies to capture elegant and abstract images of liquid and human forms in motion. In a series entitled “Kusho,” which is part performance and part image making, Maruyama throws black ink and water into the air and records the moment the two separate mediums collide. Although these images could only have been captured using brand new strobe light technologies, Maruyama still draws his inspiration from timeless artistic practices and preoccupations. In his artist statement, he writes about memories of writing Chinese characters in sumi ink as a young student: “Once your brush touches paper, you must finish the character, you have one chance. It can never be repeated or duplicated. You must commit your full attention and being to each stroke.” Like the brushes of ink on paper, each depiction of the ink’s flight through the sky represents a fleeting moment that can never be recreated.