五宝園 GOHOUEN
TOSHI (TOSHI)
Born in Yaotsu-town, Japan
(home town of Mr. Chiune
Sugihara)
Avant-garde calligrapher (Calligraphy artist)
mystic, poet, traveller, cosmopolitan
1995-1996. Started his art activity in Auckland, New
Zealand
2000. Moved to Bali and continued producing art
work.
Had exhibitions of his work in Japan, New Zealand, Indonesia and other countries.
2007. one man exhibition at "Bali Art festival 2007"
The Way Of The Artist
Gohouen visited Bali unexpectedly in November 1996, where he had a mysterious experience at Kuta beach, during the night on December 5th (the holy night in Indonesia). After that extraordinary event, he was led by a mystic to a town in South Java, where he had other spiritual encounters, which have forever changed his philosophy of life and affected his art style dramatically.
Gohouen has been studying theology (mysticism) by himself, and was once awarded a scholarship from MARUMARA University in Istanbul by the Turkish educational association. However, he already had his heart set on seeking the "way of the artist", and therefore moved to Bali in 2000.
He has since been searching for the truth of the Universe, trying to express this through artistic activity, continuing to express the Divine in his work since the day he moved there.
His Personal Philosophy
For Gohouen, God is universal - in other words, the Creator
of all creation and also the place all things created would
return to.
His artistic activity is also a protest against the various
problems caused by religious and race
conflicts.
It comes from his philosophy that God, which every religion calls, is one and all toward all races and countries, thus the relationship between God and the individual does not need anyone else to intervene, for the individual alone is connected directly to God.
In another words, Gohouen's art states that God is the One and Only Truth of the Universe.
Rites Of Passages
Gohouen practices meditation and puts all other thoughts out
of his mind before he starts to produce new work.
He never starts a new piece without clearing his mind first:
this is his attitude toward his art work.
Gohouen says he wants to produce something universal and pure because all of his artworks are in fact offerings to God.
