artist

I had an early and ongoing influence with nature as well as with  Japanese culture. Growing up with a pond in the back yard meant summer  mornings were spent feeding dozens of enormous golden orange carp.. Paintings of the Edo period hung at home and this influence was reflected in a review in Art In America Sept 2002 – “Zima creates  translucent, meditative colour fields in encaustic. His blocky  interlocked patterns recall Chinese landscapes and limestone cliffs. The  active surfaces suggest terrain with ridges, troughs and unexpected  depressions.”  Acknowledging this lifelong connection to the East  inspired me to begin the study of the Japanese language which is ongoing.  This experience has provided emotional, creative and intellectual  traction points and is now an inherent part of every creative working  day. It was the hiragana and katakana alphabet that appealed initially  but the Kanji symbols and the rich history around the characters were a  key connection. The brush strokes for kanji are similar if not the same  as brush strokes for tree branches, one and the same.