“Himeji”

36 x 36 x 2.5 in. (original)

1/1 NFT

Liquid acrylic, sumi ink, 24k gold leaf, newspaper, manga, cotton rag mat, resin, on deep-cradled wood panel (Digital for NFT)

2713 x 2673 pixels (PNG)

Himeji Castle is beautiful enough to make you forget that it was, at the height of its utility, an instrument of war and intimidation. Cherry trees wrap around the base of the castle like a blooming shawl. It is the very definition of storybook.

The expansive 24 karat gold leaf sky background is a reference to the extensive use of precious leaf in Japanese screen art (byōbu). The gold both abstracts and imparts a sense of timelessness to the scene.

But that illusion is pierced by perforations revealing the underlying collage composed of newspapers and other printed ephemera betraying the sense of time and place. Timelessness and impermanence are thus balanced, as they are below with the juxtaposition of the centuries-old castle and countless wafting cherry blossoms.