Looking at it from a distance, Ki conveys a coarse impression, with the sticky quality of its saturated ink counteracted by the splitting of the brush’s hairs when dancing over the surface of the paper. Morita described his artistic challenges during the year when he made the present work in a presentation given in 1971 under the title “Ink Under a New Condition.” He recalled: “When wielding the brush after the ink has already started to dry, it will create a lot of curious movements in the hairs, which I found very interesting. I was wondering what would happen if I used a brush with dried ink just like that. I thought I could achieve strokes where one by one the elasticity of the hairs came into play, lines would appear like patterns of clouds and I write with a very light and subtle touch.” The hairs of calligraphy brushes are usually very soft but once the brush is filled with liquid they tend to straighten out. Morita achieved the desired flexibility by adding dense ink mixed with an adhesive medium to the tip of the brush. He included several works based on this approach in his first major exhibition abroad at Mi Chou Gallery, New York, in 1963, namely, the present Ki, but also Kyoku, Ro and Usobuku. Among these, Ki is the most representative effort in this new experimental style. In a lecture given at the Artist Club of New York, Morita said that he believed the value and power of calligraphy could transcend time and space and move many people all over the world. His own interpretation of the character ki (return) was “returning to the original source,” to express himself and his role in the long history of mankind in space and time.

Morita Shiryu (avant-garde calligrapher; 1912–1998)
Avant-garde calligrapher from Hyogo Prefecture. Like fellow artist Inoue Yuichi, Morita studied under the calligraphy master Ueda Sokyu. He co-founded the avant-garde group Bokujinkai together with Inoue and was the founder and editor of the journal Bokubi (Beauty of Ink), both of which revolutionized traditional Japanese calligraphy and spread knowledge of Japanese avant-garde calligraphy to an international audience. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor with Dark Blue Ribbon.