One's Native 1984

Toko Shinoda made this print, “One’s Native,” using black ink to explore the meeting of chance and control. I see an ongoing conversation, a dance between intention and accident. Look at that thick, diagonal stroke. The ink bleeds and feathers out along its edges, which gives it a sense of depth and movement. The texture looks almost like a dried riverbed, which contrasts with the solid black rectangle beside it. The rectangle is so solid, so absolute, with just that little white scratch cutting across the surface. It’s a grounding force. That crisp geometry makes me think of the hard-edged abstraction of someone like Barnett Newman, but the calligraphic brushstrokes, with their lyrical quality, keep it flowing. This piece reminds me that art is a balancing act, a way of finding harmony in opposites.