Longevity Mountain 1932

Tanabe Chikuunsai made this bamboo basket, Longevity Mountain, at an unknown date. The making process looks complex. I'm imagining a mountain of bamboo sticks in the artist's studio. It’s like a very disciplined drawing practice, but in three dimensions. The bamboo is woven in a seemingly random pattern, yet somehow it’s controlled and elegant, and look at the color! That deep reddish-brown is incredible. It makes me think of how the texture of a painting can hold just as much meaning as the image itself. I keep finding more and more ways to interpret the pattern. At the base, where the woven strands come together, there is the suggestion of an almost solid form. Looking at the object, I can almost smell the wood, and I can imagine holding this. Agnes Martin used very muted colors, and simple compositions to create emotional experiences. The same is true here. It’s that ambiguity, that openness to different interpretations, that makes art so exciting.