The central character of this tea screen literally means “picture,” and the extensive inscriptions on each side panel describe different types of pictures, such as “landscape” or “portrait.” Suda Kokuta’s sharp and confident calligraphy presents each word almost as a picture unto itself, its beauty enhanced by his thick brushstrokes and splashes of ink. However, by choosing characters whose meanings signify different kinds of images, Suda also creates a conceptual work of art, questioning whether the signifier for “a picture” could perhaps itself be a picture. This tension between the real and the symbolic is an important principle of Zen.

 

—Bradley Bailey