Later this month indigo dye artist Fukumoto Shihoko is having a solo show at Takashimaya in Tokyo. Since 2006 Fukumoto has been using antique work clothes, handwoven of hemp, cotton, or other natural materials, in her dye work. These coats, tunics, and leggings, once worn by farmers and other workers, are of course no longer used or produced.For the Takashimaya show, Fukumoto has picked apart old, sometimes stained and frayed, work clothes, dyed them in geometrical patterns, then reassembled them as rectangular tapestries. Looking at the little catalog that arrived yesterday from Fukumoto, I get the sense that in these works she has taken her indigo dyeing fully back to its humble, earthy roots. (The image above is on the cover of the catalog.)
I first saw Fukumoto Shihoko's work in a stunning show 15 or 20 years ago at Takashimaya in New York, then followed it in Japan. Over the years she has taken her always luminous work in ever new and deep directions. If you are in Tokyo this spring, this is a show to see, at the Nihonbashi branch of Takashimaya from May 27 to June 15.
