August 15, 2016

Slava Polunin and his Snowshow Visited Itchiku Kubota Museum

On 3 August, Slava Polunin and the entire cast of his Snowshow visited Itchiku Kubota Art Museum in Japan, where they are currently on tour. Polunin was so impressed by Kubota’s art he sent us the following remarkable letter:

We have had a unique opportunity to touch “the wings of a butterfly” and visit the Itchiku Kubota kimono museum.

For us Russians, the kimono is such an unusually bright, extraordinary and mysterious costume that, in itself, it evokes a sense of wonder and delight with the shape, colour and texture of its fabric.

But it is difficult to put in words the manner in which the artist and scholar Itchiku Kubota has developed and transformed this traditional Japanese costume. So strong are the emotions produced by these brightly coloured and carefully embroidered pieces of silk that we are left in a state of awe and bewilderment.

Can ephemeral pleasures really be created by purely material and physical means? How can these sensations be produced from the simple movement of air, mist, smoke or a single glow in the sky? Sometimes we sense that we can hear snow falling on the branches of pine trees or ice cracking on a frozen lake.

The first kimono hits you like an exploding bomb. The ball of fire, that is the setting sun, dazzles and enthrals. And then, when you become embroiled in the depths of the landscape, you drift from one picture to another, pausing for a while and then becoming lost in a time warp and finally you get carried away by the intricate stitching of the fabric like a leaf gently floating along a river.

Then, when you are roused from that distant world and return to the present, you realise that the river has carried you along to that place where everything begins – the SUN.

We paid a visit to the museum of kimono, but in reality we entered into a world of fantasy, created by a great artist and poet.

So a massive thanks to Patokh Chodiev for his priceless gift to mankind, for giving us the opportunity to walk along this path, to drift along this river and travel through time. We thank you and bow to you.

The Snow Show Team and Slava Polunin.

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