Emptiness

Using a thick brush soaked with ink, Suda attacked the paper as he wrote the character kyo, or “emptiness.” Ink dripped as he prepared to place his brush on the paper, leaving circular droplets in areas. The scratchiness of the brush, where the ink had not fully permeated, emphasizes the speed with which he moved the brush, swiftly and decisively. Working in the postwar era when Western artists were pursuing abstraction, Suda and fellow painters downplayed the importance of legibility and instead promoted the beauty of calligraphy’s visual form so that their works could better resonate with a foreign audience. 虚 Emptiness