Artists & Practises
Contemporary artistic engagement with the shikishi
The Shikishi Art Project is grounded in real artistic practices.
Artists are invited to work with the shikishi not as a decorative or illustrative format, but as a material support that actively shapes the work.
Rather than adapting their practice to a predefined aesthetic, participating artists confront the shikishi through their own medium—painting, drawing, sculpture, or mixed media—and explore how its material properties, format, and borders influence gesture, composition, and decision-making.
From individual practice to shared questions
Each artist approaches the shikishi from a distinct background and methodology. Yet across these individual practices, a number of shared questions emerge:
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How does the rigidity of the shikishi affect bodily posture and gesture?
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What role do borders and margins play in the construction of the image?
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How does the shikishi respond to media not traditionally associated with it?
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What balance emerges between immediacy, restraint, and irreversibility?
This page does not aim to unify these approaches into a single style. Instead, it presents the shikishi as a common ground through which different practices generate dialogue.
Practices before outcomes
Within the project, emphasis is placed on process rather than results.
Works produced on shikishi are understood as outcomes of experimentation, not as final conclusions.
Artists are encouraged to:
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test unfamiliar techniques,
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accept technical uncertainty,
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work without predefined solutions,
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and allow the support itself to guide decisions.
This approach positions the shikishi not as a neutral surface, but as an active participant in the creative process.
An open and evolving framework
The Shikishi Art Project is conceived as an open framework.
Artists join at different moments, through different approaches, and for varying durations.
Rather than fixing a definition of what working on shikishi should be, this section documents how artists actually engage with the support today, allowing practices to diverge, intersect, and evolve over time.
Participating artists
The artists involved in the Shikishi Art Project are presented here as their contributions develop.
