[By Marc Jerome - First published in ForgePress 7 November]In my first year I bought a poster of Hokusai’s ‘Under the Wave Off Kanagawa’. What caught my eye was the composition of the painting: the bold blue and white of the savage waves contrasting with the serenity of Mount Fuji and the grey sky. Also known as ‘The Great Wave’, it’s probably the most famous work of Japanese art. This picture, though, is ‘Kajikazawa in Kai Province’: in the centre a man and boy are fishing amidst a turbulent shoreline; the rocky outcrop on which they stand forms a triangle with the man’s fishing lines. This triangle is echoed again in the background by Mount Fuji, defiantly making its presence felt through the thick fog. The blankness of the mountain engulfs the struggling fisherman, becoming at once sublime and terrifying. For me, Hokusai’s work presents a paradox; he manages to create exceeding complexity out of seeming simplicity, which I think says something profound about the way we have to perceive the world.
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