Silk Road Series

The Silk Road ran a distance of 4000 miles across land (and later sea) between China and Europe from the Han Dynasty period in China in 200BC. Silk was a desired commodity with other luxury good such as gold, jade, teas and spices. Jack Weatherford ‘s Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World is a fascinating read. The Silk Road was at its height during Genghis Khan’s time and it was Khan who created currency for the first time in world history.

In my TOPPI(突飛)NYC − Silk Road Series, I use pearls, corals (mostly faux made of glass with environmental concerns in mind), jade, vintage and contemporary blue and white ceramic, and bone (not ivory) beads. One great find was a strand of beads with a hermit, hut, and banana leaves carved into real seeds. When I found some faceted agates that ranged in color from light to dark, I imagined that I could create a Chinese landscape painting with just one carved seed. Landscape ink paintings emerged in China during the Tang dynasty (618-906) and the Southern Song dynasty (960-1279) landscapes reached Japan along with Buddhism. The ink paintings on rice paper (hey, it’s not made of rice at all) is a uniquely Asian expression.

TOPPI (突飛) NYC - sumi nakazato -