kenuru
by Ai Yamaguchi
No Frame
Year: 2010
Edition: 50
Water-based woodcut 18 plate 25 colors, powdering, embossing
Signed
Delivery Time : 2 weeks
The motifs that Yamaguchi uses in order to build her artistic vision is often inspired by Japanese art from the early 16th century to the late Edo period, but her style is also uniquely informed by a characteristic flatness and decorative tendencies, making her artistic interpretations truly one-of-a-kind and original. The characters she depicts are often blended into the design of kimono which are designed to be flat in perspective yet decorative, rendering her pieces extremely two-dimensional and similar to the lines found in kare-san-sui (traditional Japanese landscape garden). Her flat works emphasize lines as well as distort colors and shapes. While her works are certainly expressed in the form of planes, Yamaguchi does not seem to clearly define whether this expression takes place in two-dimensional or three-dimensional form, and freely steps over the conventional boundaries that set the two perspectives apart.
This artwork "kenuru" is Ai Yamaguchi's first full, complete woodblock print. Although she had never stopped working with art prints up until now, they were lithographs, copperplate engravings or digital prints, and these did not include woodblock prints. This work of art is thus a culmination of the hopes she cherished as an artist and printmaker with regards to the complete creation of a woodblock print, and the first.
Detail of the artwork, 18 layers of 25 colors piled on top of each other
This lovely piece, both audacious yet delicate, is reminiscent of ukiyoe paintings, with its 18 layers of 25 colours piled on top of each other. It is a piece bursting with fun and joie de vivre from every nook and corner, brilliantly highlighting how Yamaguchi returns to the origins of depicting the world as seen in ukiyoe (pictures of the floating world).
Detail of the artwork, the golden pattern is powered on the top by using the technique called "Kira-zuri."
In terms of technique, the artwork is also extremely chic and polished. It seems as though the excessive, minute details on the block were carefully carved by the artist with a magnifying glass. Other details are equally beautiful, including the gold-pattern powdered by using the technique called Kira-zuri, as well as the single embossed line called Kimedashi, creating a sense of unevenness surrounding the picture.
Detail of the artwork, the edge of the artwork is beautifully embossed with a single line.
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