千葉 蒼玄 Sogen Chiba

1955- / M / Miyagi

Chiba, a calligrapher born in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, began studying calligraphy during his childhood. Because he lost his teacher when he was still young, he acquired and developed his own original techniques. The aspect of his work that has attracted the most attention in Japan and overseas is his use of tobashi, or sharp splashes of sumi intentionally made through rotational movements of the handles of brushes called chochoho, which have long and thin bristles resembling whips. In 2007, a collector in New York invited art enthusiasts and others to his own penthouse for a private exhibition of Chiba’s works, where the artist demonstrated his calligraphic techniques. In Japan, a work of Chiba’s comprising calligraphy and an image made with tobashi was used for the 2011 slogan of the professional baseball team the Tohoku Rakuten Eagles. The tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011 swept away more than 100 of Chiba’s works stored in Kesennuma City including a representative work of over 10 meters in length. However, he soon recovered his energy and held large-scale private exhibitions in Tokyo and Sendai under the theme of “the repose of souls and rebirth.” He was invited to exhibit at the LA Art Show held in Los Angeles, USA, in February 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic was declared. Chiba’s large work “3.11 Requiem and Revival” was displayed at the entrance of the LA Art Show, which was visited by 70,000 people. During the Show, he painted another work, “Circle, Triangle, Square,” live as a demonstration performance during the exhibition period. Both works were added to the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), one of the largest and influential art museums in the U.S., after the closure of the Show.