"Tabaimo: zun ten ton chin shan" Tabaimo's first copperplate intaglios

From February 9 (Fri.) to March 4 (Sun.) of this year, Gallery KIDO Press is going to hold an exhibition titled "Tabaimo: Zuntentonchinshan" that will present the first copperplate intaglios created by Tabaimo, a contemporary artist who has been extensively active inside and outside Japan. This exhibition will show as many as ten completely new works from intensive production during a period of about one month beginning in early November 2017.

Tabaimo produced the illustrations for "Kokuho" ("National Treasure"), a novel by Shuichi Yoshida published in serial form in the morning edition of Asahi Shimbun starting on January 1, 2017. She has already penned more than 300 illustrations for the series, which consists of a total of 500 installments and will run until March 2018. From among these illustrations, she carefully selected those which could stand as works on their own merits apart from the novel, rearranged their structure, and made prints of them. She used the dry point method, which entails etching directly onto the copperplate with a needle, to endow the lines with a distinctive character. Adding color to the illustration titled "Kongan no Yushoku" ("The Imploring Dinner") so that it is blurred with aquatint, and thereby highlighting the texture of the paper as well, she pursues the printed touch through intaglios. The work was at the same time a process of incorporating the artist's subtle esthetic judgments and sensibilities by repeatedly making trial prints and fine adjustments of the interim results. As our printing studio was the very site at which this work was performed, the exhibition is also a precious opportunity for viewing pieces that were quite recently printed, whose ink seems still moist, and that burn with a quiet ardor.