This bent twig was cut from a graft of Tako’s favorite flowering tree. I first acquired the graft four years ago, right after Tako and I had taken a trip to Japan. The arborists in Kyoto gave me the grafting and I’ve been growing the tree in secret all this time. Why all the effort? Tako regularly gets me great gifts, whereas I ineluctably fail to find just the right concept. I’ve been saving this for a special occasion, and the timing was finally right. I cut the flowering branch from the grafted transplant and brought it into the house for an arrangement for Valentine’s day. You can just see Tako’s gift to me in the back of this photo—it is a painting from my new favorite artist. He has no name, but his work reminds me of a blend of Richard Prince and Gerhard Richter.
