NikkeiWest--Northern California Japanese American Newspaper

“Beyond Golden Clouds,” an exhibition on view at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum through Jan. 16, features Japanese folding screens that range in date from the 16th to the 20th century.

Most of the screens feature traditional subject matter, such as “Landscape of the Four Seasons” (c. 1560) by Sesson Shukei, “Pheasant and Pine” (c. 1626) by Kano Koi, “Flowers and Plants of the Four Seasons” (approx. 1774) by Kakutei Joko, and “Twelve Poetic Immortals and Their Poems” (1850) by Reizei Tamechika.

Some of the 20th century artists, on the other hand, demonstrate a departure from tradition as Japan became more influenced by Western art. Yamakawa Shuho’s “Relaxing in the Shade” (1930), for instance, depicts two women dressed in the latest sportswear and wearing fashionable Western-style bob hairstyles. Morita Shiryu’s “Dragon Knows Dragon” (1969) features abstracted golden calligraphy splashed across a black background.

The exhibition includes works by two artists who are still alive. Sasayama Tadayasu’s “Red Rash” (1990) consists of stoneware panels with a gray metallic glaze, covered with hundreds of red-glaze dots that have been likened to an outbreak of measles.

And Okura Jiro (born in 1942), who attended the October opening and conducted workshops at the museum, accompanied panels from his “Mountain Lake Screen Tachi” series. These screens were produced in Virginia during the artist’s 1990 residence at the Mountain Lake Workshop, which has given its name to the title of the work.

Only five screens from the series are on display in San Francisco; Okura created 16 in all, each its own vertical monument recalling a glimmering cityscape. When all of them are set up side by side, they create the effect of a wall about 120 feet in length.

According to the Art Institute of Chicago and the St. Louis Art Museum, which loaned the artworks, the double-hinged panels are made of black walnut that has been distressed and painted with black and cinnabar red pigment, and then loosely covered over the entire surface with gold foil adhered with rabbit-skin glue. Pieces of imitation gold leaf sway with the slightest movement of air and glisten as they catch the light.

It is Okura’s intention that, over time, bits of the gold leaf will fall from the screens and the wood will return to its natural state. His acceptance of the gradual transformation of his art can be taken as a metaphor for the ever-changing condition of nature stressed in Buddhism.

Curator Melissa Rinne observed, “It’s interesting as a museum professional, because we always try to preserve things exactly the way they are when they come in, and yet these screens don’t want to be preserved … For people whose job it is to preserve artwork, it presents kind of a conundrum. They’re meant to change and evolve over time … A lot of gold came off. Gold comes off every time you move them.”

Okura summed it up simply: “My basic concept is: Everything is change.”

The sculptor was inspired to work with wood after visiting the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico in 1969. He was later drawn to Mountain Lake by the works of painter John Cage, who in turn developed an interest in Okura’s project.

Mountain Lake Director Ray Kass, who created the panels with Okura, also attended the opening. He pointed to a video on the making of “Mountain Lake Screen Tachi” and said, “That’s me 20 years ago.”

The trees used for the work came from the Jefferson National Forest at Little Stone Mountain in Virginia. Before they were cut down, a Shinto ceremony was held by special arrangement with Ujigami Shrine near Okura’s home in Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture. Kass wore Shinto ceremonial robes and recited prayers in Japanese that had been prepared by the priests at Ujigami.

The purpose was to honor the living spirit of the trees and to release that spirit to the artist. Black walnut was chosen because of its similarity to zelkova (Japanese gray-bark elm), which is used to make sacred objects in Japan.

Kass noted that the wood was dried out for six months and that the work was done day in and day out with both industrial-grade tools and traditional Japanese hand-held tools. “Jiro spent a lot of time … to create something quite extraordinary,” he said.

The museum is located at 200 Larkin St. in San Francisco’s Civic Center. Hours are Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed Mondays, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day). Admission is $12 for adults, $8 for seniors (65 and older), $7 for college students with ID, $7 for youth 13-17, and free for museum members, children under 12 and San Francisco Unified School District students with ID.

For more information, call (415) 581-3500 or visit www.asianart.org.