Universe is Flux

John Teramoto, curator of Asian art at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, will talk about the work of Tawara Yūsaku at 7 p.m. 10 November in the IMA's Toby Theater, 4000 North Michigan Road, Indianapolis.

The first large-scale exhibition of 77 works by the contemporary Japanese artist (mostly ink on paper) opens the next day, and will be on display through at the IMA through 1 April 2012.

Tawara Yūsaku (1932-2004) was a contemporary Japanese artist who created unique, amazingly energized images based on his belief that all existence is composed of the impermanent bunching together of vibrating waves of energy—what he termed “hadō” (ha-doh; literally wave-movement). Working primarily in ink on paper and strongly influenced by Buddhist thought, Tawara’s paintings are constructed from countless strokes and dots, imparting to the works an intensity of content that fills them with monumental energy.

(Image, courtesy of IMA: Tawara Yūsaku, Japanese, (1932-2004), Chikau (I Vow), 12.6-6, 1993, ink on paper; 10 5/8 x 8 5/8 in. Collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Martha Delzell Memorial Fund)