A Sea of Troubles Lies Between Us

Medium: Glitch Drawing sublimated on brushed aluminum

Description: Major inspirations for this piece came from the famous woodblock print “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” by Hokusai. Using printing methods available to him in the early 19th century, Hokusai redefined what art could be. Printing countless copies of his work on wood as well as other items resonated with me and my “Glitch Drawings” that were only able to be produced using printing methods. The image itself, like Hokusai’s work, was created using an artists touch but to share and sell the work it needed to be printed. In many art spaces and in the art world at large, printmaking is looked down upon and valued less. But in the modern era print making can be just as valuable as a one-off painting if the substance of the art is seen as valuable or in a style that cannot be mimicked. “A Sea of Troubles Lies Between Us” is a work of art that is an attempt to find reconciliation between my home of the United States and Japan, a country I have been inspired by through their arts and culture since I was a child. A geopolitical relationship troubled by bad blood, attacks from both sides, and the dropping of the two atomic bombs in WWII. In this piece there are floating bombs labeled “LB” and “FM” as acronyms to their real code names of the bombs. There is also two whales and one dolphin in the picture to signify the Japanese legality of commercial whaling and hunting of dolphins. The water is soaked in all sorts of colors to signify the pollution and toxicity between the two nations. The water is restless because of these tensions. Yet the rest of the title in the Japanese Kanji in the text box reads, “A sea of troubles lies between us. However, the most difficult paths lead to the most beautiful destinations.” There will always be cultural clashes between people of the world. But when we decide to seek understanding rather than revenge we can come to make the world more unified and end the cyclic pattern of anger, hate, and suffering.