In October 2019 I flew to Kyoto for five weeks to draw in the Zen Gardens. I felt in need of a period of re-formation and reflection on my practice away from the studio and routine professional commitments. These periodic immersive retreats have become pivotal to
detaching myself from my habitual creative impulses and discovering the way forward. Japan’s gardens embody a philosophy and aesthetic that is profoundly different and yet superficially familiar to us through its pervasive cultural influence. This research time
enabled me to get profoundly lost in a new landscape of references, ideas and forms. I am deeply grateful and indebted for this, it was transformative.

What I did not anticipate was the role of the evening bath house visits, made locally every couple of days. Initially undertaken from curiosity, they became an intensely relaxing part of my routine and a second strand of drawing, although in counterpoint to the gardens
conducted purely through looking and memorising.

The collages are all made on a base of Awagami paper with coloured papers, torn up books, marbled paper, mt tape, mono-printed ink marks on tissue paper, crayons, pens and pencils. The aim was to keep the surfaces as light and floating as possible a visual dance of forms whose choreography  held a meditative stillness at its centre.

Click here to read an interview by Sophie Lévy Burton on his recent Kyoto collage work and the effects of the Zen Gardens on his thinking and practice in MONK, an international arts magazine exploring creativity and spirituality.

Click here to see ‘In the Studio with Mark Cazalet and Sarah Pickstone’, a video in which he talks about the Zen Garden series and his practice.