Yamabushi Collage as Vehicle for Cultural Expression

The artist has many choices on how to convey whatever it is they wish. The devices, sizes, and means of display factor into the process. Some artists work in many different mediums some choose to specialize in very defined areas.

Yamabushi Collage for cultural expression

The artist has many choices on how to convey whatever it is they wish. The devices,sizes,and means of display factor into the process. Some artists work in many different mediums some choose to specialize in very defined areas. The art form of collage is essentially the intentional juxtaposition of different images to make a new image. Using scissors or an exacto to cut out pieces of paper and gluing them together to make a finished design is the old school way of making collages. 

Now there is photoshop and other programs that enable one to play god, as the computer can now do all of the heavy lifting, it can duplicate infinitely, it can reverse images, it can layer them , it truly is amazing the power the computer gives the artist. Yamabushi creates collages by hand, out of thousands of hand found and cut pictures. The artist has ,through the process of working and developing his skill and talent over many years established his own visual language.

The work of Yamabushi has sought to speak to many issues and hidden secrets. To be an underground voice , a standard barer in the wilderness was always the artist’s goal. As the years went on and the artist retreated from the world to grind it out in relative silence. The world of Asheville and all of it’s inherent weirdness as well as oldness of the mountains, had to play a roll. The interesting image bank that is created by all the world traveling weirdos helped keep things psychedelic.

The psychedelic style that was created by color and pattern searches amounting to thousands of man hours over the decades. The search for the hidden ans discarded pieces to the visual puzzle the artist is trying to conjure. That is part of the secret the artist does not want told but needs to be known; the secret is in the digging, the images you choose say everything about you. The proper correlation between what you say versus how you say it. What you say it with,will depend on how it is herd.

Collage is immediate, it is what is at hand, it is the ingredients that make the recipe. Getting out ideas with the re-purposing of imagery inherently starts you out with two combined meanings, what one puts next to that only multiplies the meaning. The designs can become very dense with potency when you stack iconography in clever and insightful ways. It becomes a way of telling a whole story with one picture.

The potential of being able to convey a myriad of ideas rapidly is what makes collage so seductive a mistress. Taking the everyday and flipping it, punching it in the gut, pile-driving it into your own religious message. With collage you can choose the heroes, you can draw from so many modern sources, so many printed and partially discarded images. You can breathe new life into the thrown away images of the past. By using images you send messages, you can communicate on multiple levels simultaneously. You can imbed secret histories like the masons.

For those that want there to be more to it , that’s what’s up. So much stuff looks kinda cool, but has no soul. Why is that ? Nimrod’s Dream ? Babylonian control systems keeping us whack. Why are they so scared of the soul? Why cannot corporations be conscious? The soul is the key. The soul is the true heart of Yamabushi, that cannot be denied. That is what is transmitted under deeper concentration. The allusions, the references, the cool teacher flexing his visual muscles. How do you make it look cool? Put your heart into it, and stay objective is key.

Like the old school Hip-Hop dons , keep it cool with the slow over-powering long-view type moves. The real will be recognized written in the blood of trolls and haters. The diamonds in the Rolex are blinding if you are the leader of the four horsemen.

Have Questions? Comments?

Interested in hosting a Yamabushi Event? Putting Yamabushi Art in your gallery? Want to collaborate with Yamabushi on a project? Get in touch.