thumbnail image
  • Home
  • Artists 
    • Kobayashi Shumei
    • Mitsumoto Takeshi
    • Nakano Kaoru
    • Kise Hiroshi
    • Kaneko Toru
    • Oyama Yasuyuki
  • Installations 
    • Kobayashi Shumei
    • Mitsumoto Takeshi
  • Artforms 
    • The Japanese Screen
    • Metalwork
    • Noren
  • About
  • Contact
  • …  
    • Home
    • Artists 
      • Kobayashi Shumei
      • Mitsumoto Takeshi
      • Nakano Kaoru
      • Kise Hiroshi
      • Kaneko Toru
      • Oyama Yasuyuki
    • Installations 
      • Kobayashi Shumei
      • Mitsumoto Takeshi
    • Artforms 
      • The Japanese Screen
      • Metalwork
      • Noren
    • About
    • Contact

Lesley Kehoe Galleries Online

  • Home
  • Artists 
    • Kobayashi Shumei
    • Mitsumoto Takeshi
    • Nakano Kaoru
    • Kise Hiroshi
    • Kaneko Toru
    • Oyama Yasuyuki
  • Installations 
    • Kobayashi Shumei
    • Mitsumoto Takeshi
  • Artforms 
    • The Japanese Screen
    • Metalwork
    • Noren
  • About
  • Contact
  • …  
    • Home
    • Artists 
      • Kobayashi Shumei
      • Mitsumoto Takeshi
      • Nakano Kaoru
      • Kise Hiroshi
      • Kaneko Toru
      • Oyama Yasuyuki
    • Installations 
      • Kobayashi Shumei
      • Mitsumoto Takeshi
    • Artforms 
      • The Japanese Screen
      • Metalwork
      • Noren
    • About
    • Contact
ARTWORKS
  • Home
  • Artists 
    • Kobayashi Shumei
    • Mitsumoto Takeshi
    • Nakano Kaoru
    • Kise Hiroshi
    • Kaneko Toru
    • Oyama Yasuyuki
  • Installations 
    • Kobayashi Shumei
    • Mitsumoto Takeshi
  • Artforms 
    • The Japanese Screen
    • Metalwork
    • Noren
  • About
  • Contact
  • …  
    • Home
    • Artists 
      • Kobayashi Shumei
      • Mitsumoto Takeshi
      • Nakano Kaoru
      • Kise Hiroshi
      • Kaneko Toru
      • Oyama Yasuyuki
    • Installations 
      • Kobayashi Shumei
      • Mitsumoto Takeshi
    • Artforms 
      • The Japanese Screen
      • Metalwork
      • Noren
    • About
    • Contact

Lesley Kehoe Galleries Online

  • Home
  • Artists 
    • Kobayashi Shumei
    • Mitsumoto Takeshi
    • Nakano Kaoru
    • Kise Hiroshi
    • Kaneko Toru
    • Oyama Yasuyuki
  • Installations 
    • Kobayashi Shumei
    • Mitsumoto Takeshi
  • Artforms 
    • The Japanese Screen
    • Metalwork
    • Noren
  • About
  • Contact
  • …  
    • Home
    • Artists 
      • Kobayashi Shumei
      • Mitsumoto Takeshi
      • Nakano Kaoru
      • Kise Hiroshi
      • Kaneko Toru
      • Oyama Yasuyuki
    • Installations 
      • Kobayashi Shumei
      • Mitsumoto Takeshi
    • Artforms 
      • The Japanese Screen
      • Metalwork
      • Noren
    • About
    • Contact
ARTWORKS
  • KOBAYASHI SHUMEI

    小林 秀明

  • In a world created by art legend Yanagi Sōetsu, and mentored by a number of Living National Treasures across a range of practices, master tsutsugaki artist and Shugendō shaman, Kobayashi Shumei has cultivated a singular talent for traditional Japanese dyeing practices and a critical intellectual approach to the identity of the artist.

    Under the guidance and apprenticeship of Living National Treasure, Katano Motohiko (1889-1975), Kobayashi mastered the 400 year old tsutsugaki technique of painting directly onto fabric with no stencil, and came to extol the virtues of original thought and individual creativity.

    Eschewing the traditional Japanese studio practice of assigning specific techniques or processes to apprenticed specialists, Shumei is one of the very few remaining artists of the venerable 'tsutsugaki' technique and the only practitioner of the resist-based painting and dyeing art who is master of the entire process from concept to final artwork.

    The elemental powers of earth, water, fire, air and time are his only assisstants.

  • KOBAYASHI SHUMEI 

    THREADS OF SIGNIFICANCE

    Put the resist paste in the tube

    feel it squeeze through my hands

    as I transfer the design from concept to reality

    cover the woven cloth with nori resist,

    and using a variety of specially selected brushes,

    start to add the colours.

    My imagination flows with the dyes.

    Next, borrow the elemental powers of water, fire, air and time to settle the colours,

    use nori again to cover the design and brush in the background.

    Fix the background colour once again

    through the grace of fire and water, air and time with a final rinsing,

    there are the lines of my design,

    the clarity of the background...

    and the manifestation of my creative soul...

    so then, today, tomorrow, what fabric, what design?

  • With many accolades and prizes throughout his illustrious career, Kobayashi has been the subject of several documentaries in Japan; led workshops and seminars in Australia sponsored by the Japan Foundation; and delivered numerous lectures and demonstrations of traditional dyeing techniques at museums and professional institutions worldwide.

    -

    -

    -

    The artist’s life-long practice as a Shugendō Buddhist shaman and its respect for, and communion with, nature and the spiritual world informs all his work. His original and contemporary interpretations of these elements speak both to the ageless universal and to the current zeitgeist.

  • Waterfalls

    瀧・滝

    The idea of water, waterfalls, as sacred is one that arises from the understanding of water as a manifestation of nature - the larger its scale, the greater our feeling of otherworldly grandeur.

  • From ancient times, humans have acknowledged water’s scarcity and significance. It is both revered and feared - floods for example, water bursting forth as a manifestation of the unapproachable divine. On occasion, waterfalls have even been deified.

     

    These works express 40 years of my personal experiences and feelings toward grand waterfalls, particularly the Nachi falls (in Wakayama province, one of the best-known falls in Japan).

  • Master of silk, cotton and hemp dyeing, Shumei’s power as an artist is strongest in his contemporary interpretations of the traditional Japanese noren, hanging curtain.

    Often abstracted visions of various ideas of ‘{inter}connected-ness’, or astute expressions of the animating spirit of his subjects, Shumei's bold designs sit as dynamic contrasts to the sensual texture of their background fabric – newly woven linen, fine silk or thick chunky strands of hemp.

    On silk, cotton and hemp, Shumei's powerful technique midwives a colour palette of astounding impact. Using the noren as the canvas for his individual designs, Kobayashi has transformed the form into contemporary textile art.

  •  

    BIOGRAPHY

    1950 

    Born in Osaka, Japan

     

    1970 

    Mentors: Katano Motohiko (LNT), Kuroda Tatsuaki (LNT), Kimura Uzan (LNT) Kajiyama Shin

     

    1971 

    Receives award at Ist Hokuriku Dyeing Design Competition

     

    1973 

    Selected at All Japan Textile Design Competition

     

    1974 

    Graduates from Craft Department, Kanazawa University of Arts & Crafts Joins Toyobo Textile Company as staff of Design Section Receives Encouragement Award at All Japan Textile Competition

     

    1978 

    Receives three awards at All Japan Textile Competition, wins the greatest number of awards Cotton Section Grandprix Interior Section Grandprix Apparel Section Award

     

    1979 

    Tsutsugaki Noren Exhibition at Blackfriars Gallery, Sydney Receives award at All Japan Textile Competition Lecturer at Nakanoshima Arts College, Osaka

     

    1982 - 1986

    Several exhibitions in Australia

    1986 

    Receives Award at Asian Textile Design Competition

     

    1987

    Opens independent studio Design Studio Shumei

     

    1989

    Creates five large Noren tapestries for Mauna Lani Bay Hotel, Hawaii, using Tsutsugaki Yuzen techniques, commissioned by Tokyu Railways

     

    1991

    Selected as one of 100 Dyers, Japan, presented by Kyoto Prefecture in cooperation with the Japan Kimono Association and the Kyoto Textile Chamber of Commerce Exhibition at Kyoto Cultural Heian Museum, Kyoto

     

    1992 

    Recording of NHK Television Broadcast The Revival of Umezome, the Roots of Kaga Yuzen

     

    1996 

    Exhibition Tsutsugaki Yuzen Dyeing by Shumei Kobayashi at the Japan Foundation, Sydney Canberra College of Arts Lecture and Workshop at the Canberra College of Arts

     

    1999 

    Exhibition Tsutsugaki Yuzen Dyeing by Shumei Kobayashi at Craft Victoria Lecture at the University of Melbourne Creates large Noren tapestries and framed works for Tetsuya’s and Azuma restaurants

     

    2000 

    Lecture and demonstration at Fukagawa Edo Museum, Tokyo Commission Noren tapestry for Tetsuya’s restaurant Sydney

    2001 

    Lecture History of Natural Dyestuff at the Kanazawa Institute for the Renovation of Cultural Properties Involved in the revival of Umezome

     

    2002 

    Exhibition Tsutsugaki Art Exhibition by Shumei Kobayashi at Tetsuya’s restaurant Sydney

     

    2003 

    Tsutsugaki Art Exhibition by Shumei Kobayashi at the Japan Foundation, Sydney, including a lecture and demonstration

     

    2004 

    Recording of NHK Television Broadcast Oto no aru Fukei

     

    2005 

    Lecture and demonstration Japanese Classical Hand Dyeing Method as a visiting artist at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales Third Tsutsugaki Art Exhibition by Shumei Kobayashi at the Japan Foundation, Sydney

     

    2007 

    Exhibition Furoshiki - Reviving a Dyeing Art at the Japan Foundation, Sydney Tsutsugaki Exhibition Shumei Kobayashi at Silk Love Gallery, Tokyo

     

    2008

    Commission Tetsuya Restaurant Sydney screen size work

     

    2010 

    Commission Tetsuya Waku Ghin restaurant Singapore Marina Bay Sands Solo show Yamaki Gallery Osaka

    2011  

    Japan Foundation Sydney Lecture and Workshop Australian Academy of Design Melbourne Master class Commission Azuma Restaurant Sydney-largest work to date Solo Exhibition Weaving The Future Lesley Kehoe Galleries, Melbourne

     

    2013 

    Distinguished Talent Visa in Australia

     

    2014 

    Solo Exhibition Eyes Half Closed Lesley Kehoe Galleries, Melbourne

     

    2016 

    Threads of Significance Solo Exhibition Lesley Kehoe Galleries, Melbourne Commission 12 x Noren for Japanese Restaurant AZUMA Restaurant, Sydney  

     

    2017 

    Curly Flat vineyards and winery, Lancefield, Victoria, creating pigments from vines

     

    2019  

    Commission Kanazawa Hyatt Centric, Kanazawa, Japan Annual exhibitions at major Japanese department stores in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Sapporo.

     

    Since 1974 :   27 Solo exhibitions, 35 Group exhibitions

  • FRAMED WORKS

  • NOREN - LARGE

    Dragon

    $33 000

    Basara

    $15, 840

    Bamboo Grove

    $22, 728

    Pine Grove

    $23, 760

Shipping

View On A Wall

Private Viewing

About LKG

Mailing List

Returns/Exchanges

Copyright ©️2022 Lesley Kehoe Galleries. All rights reserved except under the conditions described in the Copyright Act 1968 0f Australia, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of Lesley Kehoe Galleries

    Contact
All Posts
×
Cookie Use
We use cookies to ensure a smooth browsing experience. By continuing we assume you accept the use of cookies.
Learn More