Okimono

FISHERMAN AND SON
20 images
I’m inspired by Japanese sculpture for a long time. Okimono, made in ivory causes a special admiration! You can not remain indifferent looking at okimono created by the great sculptor Kōmei Ishikawa, he is the first in my list! There were other incredibly talented Japanese sculptors as Hokei, Kodo, Kyosai, Ryuichi, Yoshida Homei, Yoshihaka, Yoshida Doraku….For 5 months I have been working on the Okimono "Fisherman and Son", Fisherman with his son moved to his collector and his good example will help teach another son ... height 12.8 cm, mammoth tusk. 2019. Moldova, private collection.
IRISES
4 images
This Okimono was carved from boxwood, its sizes: 10 cm x 8 cm, bleaching, light brown lacquer, bronze, silver and gold powders. 2009. This okimono was a model for casting in glass as weightpaper. USA, the private collection.
PEONIES
16 images
Peonies - surprise with their splendor, some varieties begin to bloom in Japan in winter, they can be seen under thatched huts covered with snow, and become symbols of determination, courage and endurance. In China, the peony is a symbol of spring, nobility, honor. Peonies on a stand - the meeting of winter and spring, the joy of a new life and the awakening of nature! A peony with two small buds was carved from a single piece of mammoth tusk, Urushi varnishes, silver, burnt. Peony dimensions: length - 6.1 cm, width - 4.7 cm, height - 5.1 cm. Stand length - 10 cm, width 6.7 cm. 2022. Available for purchase.
SNAIL AND DEW DROP
9 images
"The snail and the dew drop" are made in the traditional Japanese technique of takamaki-e and can be used as a holder for a brush or a pen, weightpaper. The snail shell was covered with black Roiro Urushi with mother-of-pearl grains - Kasumi. Snail body was created with Sabi- Urushi in Takamaki-e relief, black Roiro Urushi and silver Marufun. Pebbles were covered with Kanshitsu, Takamaki-e relief of grass was covered with Kanshitsu, opal. Dimensions: 6.7 cm x 2.9 cm x 3.9 cm. 2020. Moldova, a private collection.
TSUKITORI
12 images
Once upon a time, at the bottom of the ocean, there lived an octopus named 月捕り (Tsukitori) — "Moon Catcher". He had eight tentacles and eight memories: each of something that had disappeared. One was about a current that no longer existed. Another was about a fish that whispered dreams. The third was about a storm that passed without a trace. The rest were about lost meanings, elusive as the movement of a wave... Over time, Tsukitori realized that everything he remembered had lost its weight, and everything that exists does not require memory. He left the ocean and lay down on a rock that looked like the moon, under the open sky. People considered him a paper holder — a convenient form. But everyone who touched him suddenly remembered something he had never known: the taste of transparency, the sound of silence, the outline of their own thoughts. And now it lies like a varnished pause between thoughts, as if it had left the abyss to guard another: a paper, silent one — a library where ideas slumber until someone touches them with their gaze. There is no movement in its eight tentacles, but there is balance. It guards the peace of thoughts that have not yet been spoken. It is not from the depths of the ocean, but from the depths of meaning. Among notes, letters, drafts — it becomes a starting point where chaos is ordered effortlessly, simply through presence. When a hand reaches for paper, it does not interfere — it agrees. As if to say: “Take only what is truly important. Leave the rest at the bottom.” Marble, Takamaki-e, mother-of-pearl inlaid eyes, 6 cm x 5.2 cm x 4.7 cm. 2025. Available for purchase.
TWO INTERTWINED DRAGONS-1
15 images
Okimono "Two Intertwined Dragons" was carved from elk antler, bleaching with hydrogen peroxide, amber inlaid eyes, brown points were made with burning needle. Urushi. The width is 11.3 cm, the height is about 4.3 cm. 2018. UK, private collection.
TWO INTERTWINED DRAGONS - 2
17 images
Two intertwined Dragons were carved from mammoth tusk, amber inlaid eyes, brown points were made with burning needle. 12 cm х 9 cm х 4,5 cm. This okimono has a very intricate interweaving of bodies, a lot of scales, everything is done by hand. 2020. Available for purchase.