Shingai Tanaka
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Shingai Tanaka | |
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| File:Modern Japanese calligraphy by Shingai Tanaka: Mountain cm 135 x cm 70 |
Shingai Tanaka (Tottori 1942-Kyoto 2007) was a Japanese calligrapher, who studied Japanese calligraphy (書道 ,shodō) under Master Goshin Yasui and became one of the best shodō artists.
In the 1980s he founded the Kyoto Calligraphers Association (Kyoto shodō Renmei) to promote Japanese calligraphy. He was President of Sho international, President of the Kyoto Artists Calligraphy Association, and special professor at Kyoto Saga Art University [[1]].
From 1987 he lived between France and Japan, teaching shodō to students and artists in Lyon (France), Milan (Italy) and Kyoto (Japan) .
He has been giving lectures since 1998 at the Japanese Center (53, rue de Montesquieu 69007, Lyon) and in Switzerland, Italy, Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. In 1998 he was invited by Radio France to do a special concert in the program of the music festival '98 Presence'. In this experimental concert he improvised 24 works live on the stage, responding to the images and inspirations of the music played by pianist Thierry Ravassard and composed by 20 famous French composers such as Gilbert Amy and Pascal Dusapant. Each composer chose one Haiku from the 24 poems of the four seasons, and composed according to the image of the poem. This concert obtained a high reputation, and three concerts were opened again at the National Supreme Academy of Music in Lyon. Muzzik European Channel decided to make a film of this music project. for world-wide release, and will begin tproduction from 2001 to 2002 through four seasons in Japan. In Paris Tanaka collaborated with the famous musician of crystal sound, Michel Deneuve. He also made some other experimental performances with music, which they call "music and the art of the moment", in the Netherlands. He also performed at St. Jean Cathedral in Lyon in December 2000. A concert took place in October 2001 with two Japanese musicians of the traditional instrument Yokobue (bamboo flute).
He exhibited worldwide and in 2005 he received Kyoto's Art and Culture Award. He is the author of the book "Sho, Le calligraphes de kyoto", ed. Cénton, 2008 (Isbn : 2-915384-06-1) [2].
He died in Kyoto on 6 October 2007.
About his life and work he wrote: " For me, to create an art work of shodō is to prove that I am worth living and that I can find my identity. I want to show, through my works, all that I feel and think about life and nature. The motif, namely the character by which I intend to express something, has an inevitable meaning for me in creating a work." bio[3]