KAMISAKI (Sunao).
Tosei [The sound of waves]
Spirituality and the sound of waves
An early title, no.3 of a limited edition of 30 copies.
In this book, Kamisaki evokes the sound of waves with minimalistic poetry and full-bleed stencil illustrations. The poem dwells on the spiritual and the mundane; moving between Buddhist imagery, a sake cup, crashing waves and dried fish. It alludes to the nature of waves and how these sounds signal breath and new beginnings in Buddhism. Kamisaki uses objects such as sake to convey the feeling of waves, as well as different types of dried fish that are seemingly frozen in movement. The book concludes ‘All that can be heard is the sound of waves’ (our translation).
This combination of image and poetry is a recurring theme in Kamisaki’s work. His output was varied; from bookplate design for Western pioneers and humorous illustrations of matchbox labels, to immensely spiritual and minimalistic works that are highly emotive. The present title is an example of the latter, which Kamisaki achieves with characteristic sophistication.
Rare. Only one copy in OCLC.
