These two works are loosely inspired by my long affection for Japanese design and culture, and my many years of performing in community theatre. The theatre is a mysterious environment, especially after the curtain goes down and the audiences and actors have left. But do they ever really leave? That is the haunting question that a recent interest in Kabuki has brought to mind.
In the Kabuki play Ghost of Oiwa (Yotsua Kaidan), Oiwa is an onryō, a ghost, who seeks vengeance. Her strong passion for revenge allows her to bridge the gap back to Earth. She shares moost of the common traits, of this style of Japanese ghost, including the white dress representing the burial kimono. I referenced this ghostly burial kimono in the collaged calligraphic papers in "Ghost at the Kabuki".
"Kabuki Night" also references the mystery of the theatre after the curtain goes down and all is dark. Many theatres all around the world tell of moving objects, images in mirrors, odd singing and talking, lights that turn themselves on and off and visions of beloved actors from the ages. There's also the nightly exercise of catching stowaways and escorting them out. In researching the nocturnal activities of Kabuki, these phenomena seem to be universal.
Kabuki has provided us with centuries of miraculous, mysterious and sometimes ghostly tales and images.
In the Kabuki play Ghost of Oiwa (Yotsua Kaidan), Oiwa is an onryō, a ghost, who seeks vengeance. Her strong passion for revenge allows her to bridge the gap back to Earth. She shares moost of the common traits, of this style of Japanese ghost, including the white dress representing the burial kimono. I referenced this ghostly burial kimono in the collaged calligraphic papers in "Ghost at the Kabuki".
"Kabuki Night" also references the mystery of the theatre after the curtain goes down and all is dark. Many theatres all around the world tell of moving objects, images in mirrors, odd singing and talking, lights that turn themselves on and off and visions of beloved actors from the ages. There's also the nightly exercise of catching stowaways and escorting them out. In researching the nocturnal activities of Kabuki, these phenomena seem to be universal.
Kabuki has provided us with centuries of miraculous, mysterious and sometimes ghostly tales and images.