INSPIRATION VS IMITATION / Ruth Asawa
It's a strange way to title this post about my visit to San Francisco to preview the Ruth Asawa retrospective at the SFMOMA. But for years I have wanted to write about the difference between imitation and inspiration. The median is a moving target- difficult to pin down and nuanced, but this seemed like a perfect example of some INSPIRATION.
My daughter Elsie came with me to SF to see the show and celebrate that I had made some work for the gift shop for the Ruth Asawa exhibition. After a fun weekend, we went to Vancouver to see my mom and when we are there we always go to the art supply store. This time I bought a quill pen and ink because...
During the preview of the show Henry Weverka, Asawa's grandson and president of her foundation, pointed out that the drawings were done with pen & ink, and I thought oh that's cool, kind of like painting with a pen and how that process could add looseness and beauty to the line. So I was curious and excited to try.
But before I had a chance, Elsie stole my pen. She sat up many a night inking dragons, maybe inspired by my friend and tattoo artist Yoni Zilbur. We had visited his studio in NJ last summer when I got my Citipati tattoo and he was working on 108 drawings of Dragons on rice paper. Yoni apprenticed for many years with Pema Rinzin, a Tibetan Artist whose work adorns walls in the Dalai Lama’s temple in India as well as the Rubin Museum in New York.
Back in NY, her drawings continue to morph into these beautifully colored dragon paintings. I have no idea if they are still pen & ink and it doesn't even matter anymore. They have become hers.
This seems like such a perfect example of how inspiration evolves. It is a living language, a continual evolution, adaptation, and growth. Imitation can serve as a starting point, a place to practice and learn, but if it doesn't move, doesn't transform, remains simply a copy.
RUTH ASAWA INK DRAWINGS
SOME OF ELSIE'S EARLY INK DRAGONS
YONI ZILBUR 108 DRAGONS
PEMA RINZIN WORK
ELSIE'S LASTEST DRAGONS
