Art Title and description Kauai Museum Mezzanine Gallery: Zenga: what I make of what I think contemporary Japanese brush art of L.J.C. Shimoda L.J.C. Shimoda Zenga art show June 7, 2007 - August 3, 2007 pieces still available Kauai Museum 4428 Rice Street Lihue, HI 96766 808.245.6931 Blossoming Lotus: The Perfect Accompaniment: pairing world fusion art and cuisine a concurrent L.J.C. Shimoda art print show to the Kauai Museum Zenga exhibit Traditional Japanese brush painting meets modern abstract art with: L.J.C. Shimoda World Fusion Art art show May 23, 2007 - August 23, 2007 pieces still available Blossoming Lotus 4504 Kukui Street Kapaa, HI 96746 808.822.7678 Roy's Restaurant: Fusion: fine art/fine cuisine, contemporary/traditional, East/West, and innovative/seasoned presenting Fusion Art of L.J.C. Shimoda art show February 5, 2007 - May 5, 2007 pieces still available Roy's Bar and Grill 2360 Kiahuna Plantation Drive Poipu, HI 96756 808.742.5000 Lotus Asian Art and Antiques: presenting The Art of L.J.C. Shimoda art show December 1, 2005 - December 31, 2005 pieces still available Lotus Asian Art and Antiques 1201-B West 6th Street Austin, TX 78703 512.474.1700 Visions and Wishes: presenting L.J.C. Shimoda and captivating works by more than 25 visionary artists art show December 4, 2004 - February 28, 2005 pieces still available The Gallery at Guiry's LoDo 2245 Market St. Denver, CO 80205 303.292.0444 The Reunion: featuring L.J.C. Shimoda G.J. McKay Leo Franco art show June 3, 2004 - September 30, 2004 extended by request pieces still available The Gallery at Guiry's LoDo 2245 Market St. Denver, CO 80205 303.292.0444 L.J.C. Shimoda: West meets east through images and words art show November 15, 2003 - March 31, 2004 extended by request pieces still available Ragtime Art Gallery 975 E. Green St. Pasadena, CA 91106 626.792.2404 View 314 pen and ink on paper, 9.75" x 13" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available View 298 pen and ink on paper, 9.75" x 13" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available View 166 pen and ink on paper, 9.75" x 13" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available View 210 pen and ink on paper, 9.75" x 13" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available View 327 and 328 pen and ink on paper, two images each 9.75" x 13" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available See more of L.J.C. Shimoda's art 365 Views of Mt. Fuji: Algorithms of the Floating World 365 Views of Mt. Fuji art gallery 404 pieces comprise this body of work, all available as originals or prints Ideas behind the art 365 Views of Mt. Fuji: Algorithms of the Floating World author: Todd Shimoda, artist: L.J.C. Shimoda; Stone Bridge Press, 1998 The art in 365 Views of Mt Fuji was inspired by Hokusai, a Japanese ukiyo-e artist famous for his wood block prints. The universal theme running through Hokusai’s work is his belief that something grander and more meaningful is happening in everyday life than the task at hand. Hokusai depicted this strong belief of his through Mt. Fuji, showing the mountain as the strongest element in his scenes with perhaps only one distracted viewer noticing its power. This so intrigued and matched a similar belief Linda has in life, she used her imagination and personal interpretation to honor his passion. Hokusai’s work and legacy also inspired the story in 365 Views of Mt. Fuji. The artist in this story attempts to paint Mt. Fuji every day for a year, in hopes of capturing all of the mountain’s changing seasons and moods. Linda embarked on a similar journey and found after one year and over 400 images, she had experienced similar struggles and triumphs as the artist in 365 Views of Mt. Fuji, and no doubt Hokusai. It is this body of work that weaves in and out of 365 Views of Mt. Fuji, adding clues and foreshadowing to the story, as well as a deeper dimension to the character and plot. Balance by opposites sumi ink on rag paper, 9" x 12" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available Beware the smile laced with fangs sumi ink on rag paper, 9" x 12" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available Reposed in respite I feel regal benignly in control sumi ink on rag paper, 9" x 12" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available Emerging to drowning sumi ink on rag paper, 9" x 12" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available What who have I become sumi ink on rag paper, 9" x 12" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available See more of L.J.C. Shimoda's art The Fourth Treasure: A Novel 77 pieces comprise this body of work, all available as originals or prints Ideas behind the art What is shodo? "Shodo is 'the way of calligraphy,' and it enjoys a long history in Asia. Valued as not only a form of traditional brush writing, it is also thought to function as a form of 'moving meditation' and to enhance concentration, willpower, and composure. Since the kanji, or 'characters' that are shared by both China and Japan, often amount to abbreviated pictures, shodo has elements in common with abstract art." From michionline.org: Journal of Japanese Cultural Arts L.J.C. (Linda) Shimoda, a practitioner of shodo goes beyond the cultural definition of shodo to create her own art form. Using traditional shodo materials (brush, ink, washi paper, and inkstone) and incorporating the brush techniques and stroke forms of shodo, Linda creates her own language of images. Although Linda enjoys Japanese calligraphy (the history, the stories behind the pictographs, and the evolution these pictographs went through to become a written language), she prefers to find her way in life through her unique art form. Linda's abstract way of expressing and interpreting life is her form of personal communication, her unique expression of thoughts and feelings. She creates a language all her own through her powerful brushstrokes. The Fourth Treasure: A Novel The Fourth Treasure: An Art Collection author: Todd Shimoda, artist: L.J.C. Shimoda; Doubleday/Nan A. Talese, 2002 The art in The Fourth Treasure is a collection of pieces conceived from another of Linda’s strong beliefs that much of what we do is purely communication. The innate desire to be heard and understood drives almost all of our actions. Linda has come to understand this as the passion she has as an artist and as the reason she creates art. The Fourth Treasure pieces depict a thought, a complete idea Linda is wanting to speak about. The titles of the images have the feeling of verse, as they function as an interpretation of that image into words. The words are not meant to explain but to open a dialogue with the viewer, to provide a means for the artist to converse with her audience. This desire of Linda’s to speak through her art was the inspiration for The Fourth Treasure. The main character of this story is unable to speak, but he desperately wants to communicate. The art serves as the medium through which the character speaks to the others in the story, and also to the readers of the book. To fully understand what the main character is feeling, the reader must join into this dialogue Linda has created. The pieces in The Fourth Treasure do not illustrate the story but add another layer to the reading experience. They communicate emotions that could be described in words, but can be felt more deeply and succinctly through images that speak. Choose sumi ink on paper, 8.5" x 11" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available Miracle sumi ink on paper, 8.5" x 11" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available Lament sumi ink on paper, 8.5" x 11" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available Am sumi ink on paper, 8.5" x 11" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available Judgment sumi ink on paper, 8.5" x 11" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available See more of L.J.C. Shimoda's art Glyphix for Visual Journaling: Drawing Out the Words Within 133 pieces comprise this body of work, all available as originals or prints Ideas behind the art Glyphix for Visual Journaling: Drawing Out the Words Within author and artist: L.J.C. Shimoda; Stone Bridge Press, 2002 The pieces in Glyphix started out as a personal exploration that blossomed into a project. Linda was exploring her role as an artist and how it defines who she is, not only to others but to herself. She began speaking with herself through a series of journal writings, trying to understand life. Soon into the project, the written words turned into drawn images, as she found that to accurately describe who she is as an artist, she had to use the only medium completely comfortable to her. Linda found that she could speak with art and come to understand herself better through these conversations. Glyphix is a collection of these spoken images – each piece is a word that the artist attempts to define with brushstrokes. Accompanying the images are written definitions of the visual word, not as you’d find in a dictionary, but as a reflection of what that word means to Linda, to the viewer, and to our lives. small things no one cares for but me giclee print with wash, and sumi ink on rice paper, 18"W x 12"H limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available grandfather's truck pen and ink on brown paper, 6.25"W x 4.5"H life giclee print with wash, and sumi ink on rice paper, 18"W x 12"H limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available cherry blossom pen and ink on brown paper, 6.25"W x 4.5"H death giclee print with wash, and sumi ink on rice paper, 18"W x 12"H limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available brain pen and ink on brown paper, 6.25"W x 4.5"H lies giclee print with wash, and sumi ink on rice paper, 18"W x 12"H limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available truth giclee print with wash, and sumi ink on rice paper, 18"W x 12"H limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available See more of L.J.C. Shimoda's art Oh! A mystery of mono no aware Oh! book cover art and illustrations 122 pieces comprise this body of art, with 48 accompanying sketches, all available as originals or prints. Ideas behind the art Oh! A mystery of mono no aware author: Todd Shimoda, artist: L.J.C. Shimoda; publisher: Chin Music Press, May 2009 Art: small things no one cares for but me Linda created this body of work to discover what motivates us to keep living day to day, even though life may seem to be comprised of mostly suffering. What survival trait did we as humans develop to get us out of bed each day and face the challenges and triumphs we’ll encounter? What makes us choose life over death over and over, again and again? It’s not rational thought that motivates us but emotional thought. In the myriad emotions we experience, Linda crystallized them into two that can answer the questions she posed: hope and fear. Linda theorizes those two emotions are the driving forces that keep us greeting each new day. Hope is a catalyst to optimism, opportunity, and the unlimited potential we have within us. Fear is the anchor that urges self-discipline, caution, and convinces us to realize our limits. To test this theory, Linda took ordinary things, small things, and broke each down into our hope and fear. When she did this, she realized that in every case, the hope was the same as the fear, that these two opposing emotions are in actuality the same thing. For example, love: The hope is that I will become one with this person, that we will be stronger as two, that we will weave our lives so closely together, we will experience “us.” The fear is I will become one with this person, that I will no longer be strong as one, that we will weave our lives so closely together, neither one of us will be able to experience “me.” Linda chose 122 small things and derived the hope and fear we might feel for it, and she abbreviated these two emotions with one phrase. When working on this project, Linda was reminded of Pandora’s box, in which was kept all the world’s fears. She’d always thought Pandora released all of these fears, forever dooming man to live a life of fear, but she learned that after releasing all our fears, one thing was left in the box: hope. Hope was the one thing left that could get man through his life of fear. At that time, Linda was working on a method for dividing the paper for each piece into workable segments. She played around with the beginning folds of an origami box, and the method was derived (thank you, Pandora, for the idea). Each piece folds into itself, only revealing the image and its title (or name of the small thing). As the paper unfolds, the hope and fear are revealed. Sketches The sketch book belongs to Zack, the main character in Oh! A Mystery of “Mono no Aware.” Linda created the sketches to symbolize Zack’s physical world, what he sees, the evidence (as opposed to the emotion) of his life. One sketch corresponds to each chapter of the book, a captured image of something Zack sees in the story. Linda peppered these sketches throughout the book, a metaphor for the bread crumbs Zack is following in his search for a meaningful life. The sketch style mimics Zack’s emotional state: starting out simple, bland, safely staying within his emotional limits and lines; progressing to show more emotion to the lines, less fully filling in, less tidy; and as he discovers his range of emotions, more interpretive and less literal; and finally toward the end, overwhelmed and frantic with his emotional findings. It is a diary of how emotions and deeply feeling them can alter our perceptions of the real world. I know about me sumi ink on washi rice paper, 9" x 11" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available Falls short sumi ink on washi rice paper, 9" x 11" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available Ways I have no control over sumi ink on washi rice paper/photograph, 9" x 11" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available What I've not become sumi ink on washi rice paper/photograph, 9" x 11" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available The answer is no sumi ink on washi rice paper, 9" x 11" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available See more of L.J.C. Shimoda's art Subduction Full body of Subduction art 47 pieces comprise this body of work, all available as originals or prints Ideas behind the art Subduction: A Novel Subduction: An Art Collection author: Todd Shimoda, artist: L.J.C. Shimoda The art in Subduction was inspired by Linda’s need to understand the influences that shape her abstract pieces. She began to observe elements in her work that mimicked what she saw around her – everyday things in everyone’s life. Linda began a dual series of work – one set of pieces was realistic sketches and photos of ordinary things in life, things that caught her eye because of their line character or intriguing shape. The other set was abstract images that incorporated a line or shape that illustrated the feeling of that ordinary thing in Linda’s life. Combining these two projects into one experience illustrates how important and all-encompassing our daily lives are and how they slowly and incrementally make up who we are and what we become. These things are merely day-to-day artifacts, but over time, they become mementos of our lives. The physical landscape of our world naturally affects the mental landscape we envision. And the mental landscape can profoundly affect how we perceive and accept the physical landscape we live within. From the sketches, photos, and abstract strokes, Linda created single art pieces that incorporate everyday things with an emotion-filled stroke lurking behind or around. In doing this, Linda also wanted to explore the idea of art as plot. By combining tangible things from our lives, they form a story. The viewer is drawn into a scene that begs for a story to be concocted to explain why these elements are found here and what they mean. A story can be told from the artifacts, and the images speak of a life. It is this art as plot creation that tells a second story in Subduction. The written story revolves around the everyday lives of a group of characters and how what they do with each of their days profoundly affects them and others. And weaving in and around this plot is the art, asking the reader to look deeper to find a continuation of these stories within the images. first sumi ink on washi rice paper, 9" x 12" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available eleven twenty-four sumi ink on washi rice paper, 9.5" x 13" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available Opening sumi ink on newspaper, 14.5" x 12" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available help sumi ink on washi rice paper, 9" x 12" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available twelve oh-seven sumi ink on washi rice paper, 9.5" x 13" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available Close sumi ink on newspaper, 14.5" x 12" limited edition prints, all image sizes and paper colors and textures available See more of L.J.C. Shimoda's art Cafe Goya Full body of Cafe Goya art 65 pieces comprise this body of work, all available as originals or prints Ideas behind the art Incident at Cafe Goya: A Novel Cafe Goya: An Art Collection author: Todd Shimoda, artist: L.J.C. Shimoda Linda’s Café Goya collection of art is composed of groups of three – each with different pieces, media, and messages. The first group derives its inspiration from the Spanish artist, Goya’s Disasters of War series. Goya created the images for his etchings during a devastating war, and at this time, Goya felt he could use his art, not words, to provoke thought and incite action. Goya experienced war firsthand, something Linda wanted to understand and be able to come to terms with in our current world history. True art teaches, informs, and inspires across time, and through Goya’s guidance, Linda has gained understanding of today by seeing and feeling yesterday. Goya’s Disasters of War is still relevant, and Linda pays homage to this series by illuminating images and thoughts that reach out from history to speak. The dominant theme of both Goya’s and Linda’s art is absence. Both artists worked solely with dark as the absence of light, and light as the absence of dark – Goya’s technique through etching, Linda’s through a pounding technique she devised with the shodo brush. Absence – the phenomenon when something, someone, or some event is more poignant and definable when it is gone or lost than when present. The second group of pieces explores the meaning of conscious, consciousness, and conscience. Seemingly three different concepts but when defined by Linda, all very similar. As an artist, Linda interprets what she sees – connects a thread from reality to her imagination – as a way to understand her environment. We each make this connection differently, weave our own threads, and this is what makes us unique, creates, "me." Being conscious and aware of our surroundings, heeding consciousness and learning how it guides us, and exercising conscience to make a decision of understanding or incomprehension is basic to who we are and how we live. Linda illustrates this through her brush strokes and threads. The thread is a line drawing of simple reality but of striking interest that stays in Linda’s memory. This memory directs her creativity and fuels the abstract brush art. These stroke and thread composites are a roadmap for inspiration, an example of being aware, appreciating the discovery, and creating in response. The third group of pieces was a challenge Linda made to herself, and as a bit of a tweak to how she imbues meaning in her work. In life, it’s not important where you look or if you ultimately find what you’re looking for. The key is to do it, endeavor to discover, simply try. Linda’s brush art is abstract but holds very strong and definable meaning. Linda decided to turn this around: Instead of traditional washi paper, Linda used newspaper as her canvas. In her most spontaneous brush work to date, Linda let raw and immediate emotion create the brush art. But instead of exploring what that image was saying, Linda hunted on that newspaper page for the one word that defined that emotion. This seemed inane, but was Linda’s effort at loosening her grip on the brush and what it creates. Linda looked for meaning in the words of classified ads, and was able to find it. Inspiration is everywhere, not only in beautiful sights or lofty thoughts, and these newspaper pieces are Linda’s met challenge that true meaning exists everywhere, we simply have to look. With the Café Goya trios, Linda takes a step further in storytelling through her art. The Goya-inspired pieces march chronologically off to war, the strokes and threads of consciousness fill in the details along the way, and the newspaper brush art rages with the immediacy of the emotions spilled in the process. Art as plot is Linda’s intent with these pieces, and as a collection they tell a story – hers, yours, ours. All images and text copyright L.J.C. and Todd Shimoda, 2009