To Kosen Ohtsubo, the extemporaneous, improvisational aspect of Ikebana is one of its most appealing points. He compares the creation of Ikebana to jazz. Ohtsubo uses vegetables, found materials and even garbage ordinary materials rather than exotic flowers in his work. Inspired by visits to India and Nepal where he observed the Hindu practice of offering petals to holy objects as an act of prayer, he was the first artist to scatter petals on the floor, which had been taboo in Japanese Ikebana. He has continued to shock with his use of vegetables and rubbish, and his iconoclastic teaching methods.

Here, he used vivid red fabric transported from Japan with branches from Wave Hill to fill the sun room with a towering structure, surrounded by fresh petals.

Kosen Ohtsubo studied with Kasen Yoshimura, Head Master of the Ryusei-ha School, and continues today as a Master teacher. He has lectured internationally and exhibited at at the Northland Contemporary Art Museum, Denmark (1985), and the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN (1997). ). He organized the Ryusei Outfield Ikebana Exhibition in Mendocino, CA (2000), and Ikebana Today New Wave in Yokohama, Japan (2001).