Our Great Wave is inspired by one of the most iconic artworks of the 19th Century “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” by Japanese artist Hokusai.

The illustration below was printed from multiple blocks of engraved wood depicting an enormous wave threatening boats near the province of Kanagawa.

Hokusai, born in 1760, had this to say about his work:

“At the age of five I had the habit of sketching things. At fifty I had produced a large number of pictures, but none of them had any merit until age seventy. At seventy-three I finally learned something about the true nature of things, birds, animals, insects, fish, grasses and the trees.”

“So at age eighty I will have made some progress, at ninety I will have penetrated the deepest significance of things, at a hundred I will make real wonders and at a hundred ten, every point, every line, will have a life of its own.” Hokusai died at the age of 89.

The series of images to the left are a tribute to Hokusai.

The design is created by strategically planting rice of different colors.