Kesa (Buddhist priest's robe) 1871 - 1935

This Buddhist priest's robe, or Kesa, lives at the Met and was created by a Japanese artist using silk. The all-over patterning is a trip, a constant play between a dark ground and swirling motifs that are maybe flowers or maybe abstracted calligraphy. It's like the whole thing breathes, expanding and contracting, refusing to settle into a single image. Then, BAM, these squares of warm color pop out, disrupting the flow. I’m drawn to one of these orange squares, where you can see the ghosts of a different pattern underneath, like palimpsests, where the past isn't erased but layered. The colors are muted, worn, like an old memory. This resonates with so much abstract painting today, artists like Gerhard Richter, where process is visible, and the history of the artwork becomes part of its meaning. It shows us how art is always in conversation with itself, always changing, always becoming.