Just like in the West, a dichotomy between art and craft exists in the social realm of the Japanese visual arts. It is perhaps more appropriate to say that the dichotomy exists between the contemporary art and contemporary craft. This is understandable as we keep in mind the advanced adaptation of the Western culture by the Japanese, including the discourses and the practices of visual arts. Just like in the Western art discourse, things that are related with traditions and skills in handling the materials will be grouped into the category of crafts. Japan has rich and beautiful traditional arts, such as the arts of calligraphy, ceramics, textile, fibers, wood, and metals. Many still continue to practice such traditional arts; some of those people are personal artists like Kyoko Ogawa, an artist renowned in the arts of fibers, or in the basketry art to be precise.

As if wanting to stress about the wisdom of traditional living that exists harmoniously with the nature, Ogawa built his studio by the nature, at the beach in Okinawa. Her way of life and his creative processes also resemble that of a priest—a life with many sacrifices in order to preserve his belief and idealism. Many other artists, especially contemporary artists, naturally find Ogawa's beliefs baffling.

Ogawa's works show that intimate relationships with, and understanding of, the materials are necessary. This includes respect to the materials used. Such deep respect becomes Ogawa's spirit in creating his basketry art. As he uses natural fibers from other places, she always begins by trying to know not only the material itself, but also the culture and the traditional arts of where the material comes from—especially the traditional arts that use the particular material. Ogawa's advanced basketry art indeed puts much emphasis on the characters and the 'demands' of the materials. It seems that Ogawa devotes her entire time and life to recognize and understand the demands of the materials he uses. She has arrived to a point where she 'works together' with the materials. This is why Ogawa almost never discard any material, nor does he produce leftovers.

Ogawa's sensitivity and collaboration with the various natural fibers have resulted not only in functional products, but also in free works that are mostly displayed as art works in the category of basketry art. Such basketry art works, as the name suggests, grow from the techniques of plaiting and weaving using various fibers; in the beginning, such activity was intended to create merely baskets. There are some weaving techniques in almost every society in the world, and in certain periods and places, some intricate techniques will be found. It is easy to guess that the advent of industry has more or less taken over the production of baskets. Most baskets are no longer hand-made, and the weaving skills are disappearing accordingly. In the developed world, the skills to weave and create hand-made baskets turn into personal skills and grow into the art of basketry, which is also personal although it is so far mostly categorized as art-craft works. Categorical matters notwithstanding, Ogawa's basketry art is intensely personal and tells especially of the acute problem of the modern human being: The awkwardness and the misunderstandings in dealing with the nature.

Asmudjo Jono Irianto

Studied at Ryukyu University, Okinawa, Japan (BFA; 1972).

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2003 "Plant of Possibilities", benda. art space, Yogyakarta.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1998 The 2nd Woody Grand Fair.
1999 The 3nd Woody Grand Fair.
2000 The 23rd Okinawa Prefecture Design Competition.
2003 "Weave-Recently" You Hall, Gumma.

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