Rat on the Hammer of Daikoku 1874 - 1942

Takeuchi Seihô painted ‘Rat on the Hammer of Daikoku’ with ink and colour on silk. The rat’s the star here, perched atop this inky, hammer-like shape. What was Seihô thinking as he flicked his brush, letting the forms emerge? The hammer seems to float, as if conjured from the ether, solidifying into a presence through the sheer force of mark-making. The paint looks thin, almost watery, which gives the image this breezy, fleeting quality, like a memory or dream. There's this lone figure standing to the side. Is he overseeing things, or has he just wandered into the scene? Painting is all about relationships – between colors, shapes, and the artist and the world. You can imagine Seihô sizing things up, editing, and refining as he went. He might be riffing off the work of some earlier painter. Artists are always in conversation, picking up where others left off, throwing in their two cents. They help us see the world a bit differently, reminding us that nothing is ever really fixed, and that’s the beauty of painting.