Armed with buckets of ink, water, a large brush and a strobe light (calibrated to a very high speed), the photographer Shinichi Maruyama creates graphic swirls of liquids colliding in midair or on white paper. The New York-based artist, who studied Chinese calligraphy as a youth in Japan, For Maruyama, the spontaneity of the process is what he finds most exciting.

“Each stroke is unique, ephemeral. I can never copy or recreate them,” he says. “I know something fantastic is happening, but I can’t fully understand the event until I look at these captured after images.”

From writing in the sky to sculpting from liquid motion, photography has always been a part of Shinichi Maruyama’s life. Born in 1968 in Nagano Japan, he started photographing the mountainous terrain surrounding his own home city.

At Chiba University, Shinichi Maruyama majored in image engineering where he studied emulsion and learned to hone his passion for photography. After graduating, he began his professional career in 1992 at Amana Japan, one of the largest commercial photographic agencies in the world. Access to the latest equipment and unlimited use of film development labs, allowed him to build a massive repertoire of commercial images.

From 1994 onward, he spent 4 years as a freelance photographer, developing his own unique style, and beginning his documentary photographic studies of Tibet. He would go on to work for Hakuhodo Photo Creative in 1998, producing innovating advertising campaigns, and with access to their latest high-speed strobe equipment, began to develop a fascination for liquid and motion imagery.

Upon leaving Hakuhodo, Shinichi began a deeply introspective, artistic period. He travelled frequently to Tibet, to complete two photography books about the Spiti Valley region, The Spiti Valley, and Spiti.

In 2003 he moved to New York City and began work on what would become his ‘Kusho’ series. It is a stunning abstract collection made with sumi calligraphy ink flying in mid-air. The images saw much success and positive review in Paris Photo, Art Basel in Switzerland, and the New York Armory Show and led him hold a show at Bruce Silverstein Gallery in New York.

At present, Shinichi Maruyama continues to work on and produce new artwork in New York.

Shinichi Maruyama has been involved in many worldwide advertising campaigns, utilizing his expertise in ice, liquid/splash, and specializing in movement in his works. Years of lighting research and the advancement of retouching have made it easier to have a strong idea of exactly how a photo will look even before the shoot begins. However in photographing liquid and subjects in movement, it is impossible to foresee what the end result will be, and it is this spontaneity that enables maruyama to have more fun creating his work.