SHIBUSA - EXTRACTING BEAUTY | CONTENTS

SHIBUSA -  EXTRACTING BEAUTY

Composition #7, oil on canvas by Pip Dickens (Shibusa series)

This is a detailed breakdown of the content of the book

SHIBUSA-Extracting Beauty

 ISBN-13: 978-1-86218-101-4

by Monty Adkins and Pip Dickens

with contributing essays by Roy Exley and Makoto Mori

PART 1 OF 9

Part 1 is an introduction to the structure and content of the book.  Given that it covers distinct yet associated topics I thought it useful to lay it out in advance.  Further posts will be added - each focusing on individual chapters.

"Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?

Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?"

T.S. Eliot, The Rock

Shibusa - Extracting Beauty celebrates a number of artistic endeavours: music, painting and the skill of making in general with particular reflection upon Japanese aesthetics.  Adkins and Dickens investigate commonality and also difference between the visual arts and music through exploration of aspects of rhythm, pattern, colour and vibration as well as outlining processes utilised to evolve new works within these practices.

The hand-cut paper katagami stencil - a beautiful utilitarian object - once used to apply decoration on to Japanese kimonos is used as a poignant symbol - that of the 'hand-made machine' both within Dickens' paintings and Adkins' sound compositions.  It also acts as an important thematic 'link' throughout the book.

Detail of katagami stencil used for printing pattern and colour on to Kimono fabric (collection of Pip Dickens)

Shibusa - Extracting Beauty also reviews and provides examples of contemporary artists and craftspeople and their individual approaches to 'making things well'.  It explores the balance between hand skills and technology within a work's production. Artists include: Bridget Riley, Liz Rideal, Estelle Thompson, Paddy Hartley and Fuyuko Matsui.


CONTENTS OF THE BOOK


PART ONE
Shibusa: A Musician's Perspective
Chapter 1: Exploding Stillness
by Monty Adkins



PART TWO
Shibusa: An Artist's Perspective
Chapter 2: The katagami stencil: handmade machine
by Pip Dickens

Chapter 3: Pattern, Rhythm, Vibration and Colour
by Pip Dickens


Chapter 4: Low Tech and High-Tech: the Tail should not Wag the Dog
by Pip Dickens

Chapter 5: Smashed Pianos and Dysfunctional Brushes
by Pip Dickens



PART THREE
Contextual Writings
Chapter 6: Sharing of Textures: Crossovers in Contemporary Art
by Roy Exley

Chapter 7: The Craftsmen of Kyoto
by Pip Dickens

Chapter 8:  History and Techniques of the Kimono

by Makoto Mori (edited by Pip Dickens)

My website: www.pip-dickens.com