in the here and now
By Miki Miyatake Nishizawa
“The now is the now is the now is the now is the...”
Hiroshi Kariya continues to write this phrase daily.
Handwritten with a calligraphy brush, it looks like a Buddhist
sutra.
In Buddhist thought, the idea of “the now” signifies that
living beings should live each single moment of “now”. A
string of “now and now and now...” constitutes the whole
history of the universe.
Kariya writes “the now is sutra” on both sides of a dried
bean, going through about 100 beans every night before
going to bed. He keeps the finished beans in plastic bags
with notes of his daily thoughts. For him, it is similar to
meditation, a practice of being present in the now.
For Kariya, creating art is not separate from his daily
chores. Taking each breath could be an exercise of art, and
living itself is art.
Three days before the opening day of his current
exhibition at Mizuma Art Gallery in Aoyama, Tokyo, he
started writing in chalk “the now is the now is the...” in spiral
from the center of the concrete floor. The periphery of the
circle is lined with pieces of limestone from Michigan bearing
the words “the now is...” written in a spiral of tiny letters.
The writing, which starts from the center of one side of a
stone, makes its way clockwise, coiling to the other side of
the stone. The beginning and the end of the writing are
connected by Kariya piercing a hole in the middle of the
stone. The idea that “there is no beginning and no end”
signifies eternity, while at the same time it has a limit as one
object.
Going clockwise follows Buddhist custom-a pilgrimage
circuit of Buddhist temples in one area is supposed to be
done clockwise. The loop without the end seems to be
symbolic of reincarnation and the universe where everything
is rotating in transformational stages repeating life and
death.
“The now is sutra” is engraved on a thick candle placed at
the north point of the circle of the text on the floor as well
as on glass bowl containing water placed at the south end.
Fire melts the candle and water evaporates from the bowl,
and “this transformation fuses with the space at present,”
says Kariya. The whole piece visually presents the universe in
miniature with an incantation-like spiral text in the middle.
Kariya’s practice of writing on dried beans in January and
February 1992 is recorded in two booklets entitled “One
day one piece one grasp seed sutra.” On each page, a fourline
stanza written by Kariya is printed with the number of
beans he scribbled that day along with date and place.
Based in Brooklyn, N.Y., his poem was first in English:
One piece of Brahma Day
One Piece of ‘the now is’
One Piece of 8,640,000,000 years
One Grasp of 104 pieces
(January 18, 1992, Studio, Brooklyn, N.Y.)
His interest and concern expressed in his poems shifted
from the conflicts in various parts of the world to a more
personal one as he traveled to his hometown Kamaishi in
Iwate Prefecture to see his mother, ill with cancer. The
poems he wrote during his stay in Japan frequently contain
kanji characters meaning “pain, mother, me, breathe, dream,
explain, morning, afraid.”
Kariya’s love for his mother and his suffering over her pain
permeate the poems. His writing the seed sutra every night
for her recovery and also a means to soothe his feelings.
What Kariya does looks simple, but the visual and spiritual
impact of his writings are striking. The magical power of
incantation is present, and his ritualistic manner of creation is
convincing.
Barefoot, with his hair tied in a pony tail and writing “the
now is sutra” on the floor, Kariya may remind us of a
lordless samurai living with a Zen priest’s peaceful state of
mind. He appears undisturbed by the overwhelming pace of
the outer world.
It is interesting to see Kariya’s Japanese identity, his
gracious attitude and power preserved even after living in
New York for close to 20 years. He is very much in touch
with himself, and it is obvious that his art work comes from
the core of his being. As long as he lives, he will use his hands
and mark the path of his life.
By Miki Miyatake on Hiroshi Kariya’s “Empty”
exhibition at Mizuma Art Gallery (J), Tokyo
The Japan Times/ Saturday, May 11, 1996/ page 15
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