Sold for: $6,875

PROVENANCE
Collection of Masato Arikushi, Vancouver

LITERATURE
Ian Thom, Takao Tanabe: New Prints, 1994, reproduced, unpaginated
Ian Thom and Christine May, Takao Tanabe: Printmaker, Kelowna Art Gallery, 2023, reproduced page 63

EXHIBITED
West Vancouver Art Museum, A Modern Landscape: Takao Tanabe, May 26 — July 17, 2021, same image
Kelowna Art Gallery, Takao Tanabe: Printmaker, July 1 - October 1, 2023, same image, catalogue #76

Masato Arikushi is the master printer who worked in close collaboration with Takao Tanabe, Mary Pratt, E.J. Hughes and other distinguished artists to produce their important woodcut editions. Born in Hokkaido, Japan, Arikushi trained in the Japanese woodblock printing process under Toshi Yoshida in Tokyo. In 1980, he immigrated to Canada, where he resides today.

Takao Tanabe’s collaboration with Masato Arikushi began in 1981, working together to produce a remarkable series of woodcut images based on the artist’s paintings. Tanabe was much more directly involved than in the traditional printmaking process, and Arikushi took on the functions of blockcutter and printer, roles which would traditionally have been carried out by many technicians. The resulting images are works in their own right, capturing the spirit and essence of the paintings.

Ian Thom describes the ambition and complexity of Nootka Afternoon:

"The complex effects of light glinting on the water and the control of the pinks and blues make this print a delicate balance of forces. The background is simplified into blocks of what might be described as brindled colour. Light permeates the ink and thus, by implication, the landscape. The blues of the water have a range and depth which act as a foil to the flashes of colour (white and pink) in the reflections. The other factor which gives the print a visual kick is the adumbration of the trees in the background by the pink elements on the right and gray elements on the left. This “shading” of the shapes is visually arresting and... gives the image energy."

This edition P.P. 2/2 is aside from the edition of 50.

Please note: this work is unframed.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars

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