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Simply Haiku: An E-Journal of Haiku and Related Forms
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Jim Kacian, "Looking and Seeing: How Haiga Works." Pages:
[ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ] Page 7: Representational versus Non-Representational Art Let's consider, then, the strategies which haiga artists generally employ. If, as we have said, the visual element predominates during the first glance, then there are basically two tactics available to the artist: the first is representational, and the second is non-representational. Representational: In the first, the visual element is easily understood at a glance or at least with some minimal attention. It needs to be attractive enough to induce the viewer into looking at the poem, but not so finished as to end the discussion all by itself. Non-Representational:
In the second, the visual element is not clear, and the array of picture
and
poem
suggests,
in most instances,
that the text might be consulted to clarify. Still, it must be
of sufficient interest that the poem not seem informational or a caption. This example is somewhat typical of his work, neither his best nor worst. It is instructive to see how he manages to make this slight poem and casual drawing work together as a cohesive whole. The haiku reads:
The poem is really little more than a conventional metaphor. The drawing, a somewhat stylized rendition of a traditional theme, the sprouting bamboo of spring, is no great effort considered against his entire oeuvre. But the glue which binds these two conventional elements and pieces together is his barely suggested hut, a few sketchy lines which seem almost hidden even in this sparse growth. The bamboo, the hut, the direct metaphor of the poem, can all be seen as representational. No effort is made to suggest anything but the direct experience. And yet, as Buson represents it, there is a reticence and mystery which arises, and more to these conventions than meets the eye. What it is is hidden from us, hidden by the very convention itself, which the artist suggests in a most delicate way. |
The
first example is by perhaps the greatest master of the form. Buson was
an extremely accomplished artist. He was more than capable of creating
visual art that was entirely self-sufficient in capturing the attention of
an
audience. But he was also a great haijin, and in his interest in developing
both arts, he was able to adjust the balance of the two as no other artist
before or since.