Press Works took a short break in the dog days of summer while Press Works printer, Todd Smith spent a little time in Denver visiting family and friends. Todd visited the
Denver Art Museum and marveled at the Japanese print exhibit "
At the Mirror: Reflections of Japan in 20th Century Prints." Unfortunately there was no catalog to accompany the show so Todd documented it as best he could in low light - with permission of course. Here are a few of the images - poor photo quality notwithstanding.
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| Motosugu Sugiyama. Sumida River, Late Autumn. 2001. |
Most people who haven't been to Japan or seen many contemporary Japanese movies may have visions of a country populated with small 19th century-style villages. Sugiyama's portrait of the Chou Owachi bridge (built in 1993) in modern day Tokyo takes care of that misconception. The print seems to be photo-realistic in nature. However upon closer inspection, we discover that like the Impressionists or better yet, current inkjet printer technology, Sugiyama uses small dots and dashes of color to intimate form and atmospheric perspective.
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| Detail of Motosugu's Sumida River, Late Autumn. 2001. |
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| Shinsui Ito. Eyebrow Pencil. 1928. |
Shinsui Ito was part of the Nihonga movement (Japanese-style painting) of the early 20th century and excelled at images of feminine beauty. The pose of the young woman is no different from people today using an eyebrow liner to enhance their features.
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| Reika Iami. Water Note C. 1971 |
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Reika Iami, who turned to printmaking after spending most of her career as a dollmaker, created many beautiful prints based on abstracted water patterns and geometric shapes. She often worked in black and white with additions of gold or other metallic colors.
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| Junichiro Seikno. Kiyoto Hillside. 1971 |
Although Todd's camera lens distorted the print a bit, it was already somewhat convex which have led some to speculate that the artist probably used a photograph as the basis for the print and intentionally left the distortion bringing this ancient form of media into a contemporary context. Notice the slanted piece of "corrugated metal" on the bottom left-hand side of the print. This is a pee-guard for stray dogs intent on marking their territory.
