If, as the Chinese adage goes, a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step, then for Japanese artist Morio Matsui, a masterpiece of 100,000 brush strokes begins with the first sweep of the bristles on canvas.
One-hundred thousand is an arbitrary figure, but it suggests the exacting detail that has become Matsui's hallmark over the last decade or so.
Imagine a canvas 10 meters long and more than 2 meters wide, covered from end to end and from side to side with minute strokes of color. It may have taken two years or more to execute, a fact that leaves one wondering about -- and admiring -- the discipline artists demand of themselves.