Illustrated is a lovely ink
painting by veteran Mino potter, Wakao Toshisada. Though best known for his
classic Momoyama inspired or Rimpa influenced pieces; Wakao has created quite a
few kakejiku and shikishi covering a broad field of subject matter, of which
this nasubi eggplant scroll is one. What brought this piece to mind was that
tonight is vegetarian dinner night and my wife mentioned eggplant and pasta,
should I mention I am not a huge fan of eggplant? A compromise was struck, and
my pasta will be with charcoaled onions and peppers, though she is sticking
with the eggplant for herself. All this discussion of the evil purple solanum
made me remember that I had a few illustrations of an eggplant scroll by
Toshisada so I sought it out and here it is in all its simplicity. At its core,
this painting gives me a quick flashback to the famous Mu Ch'i scroll of six
persimmons, though I am not exactly sure why. Admittedly if you told me about a
painting of two eggplants, I am not sure it would distract me from counting
sand but after seeing the way the ink was applied, the nasubi casually
displayed and portrayed and the use of the surrounding negative space, I am
sold on eggplant, in ink if not in actuality.
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