In the practice of traditional Japanese painting, the 白描 (hakubyo) — a preparatory study rendered in ink alone — captures the essential gesture and structure of a work before any color is applied.
Often considered a private step in the artist's process, the hakubyo is also a complete work in its own right: the breath before the breath, the bones of what is to come.
白描 · Preparatory Study
Vital Energy — Hakubyo
Sumi ink on paper · 2025
本制作 · Finished Work
Vital Energy — Rebirth and Revival
Sumi ink, pure gold, Nihonga colors on wood panels · 48" × 12" each · 2025
— About this Work
Vital Energy began in the silence of ink. The white serpents — emblems of regeneration in many traditions — first appeared as line: contour without color, form without weight.
In the finished work, that quiet line is met with the warmth of pure gold leaf and the depth of ground-mineral pigments — traditional materials of Nihonga. The composition holds the same gesture, but now resonates with breath, with breath, with breath.
First exhibited in "Between Worlds, Within Memories" · two-person exhibition with Toru Sugita · Inclusion Gallery, San Francisco, 2025.