Tomoko Konoike Little fur anger

Gallery KIDO Press is going to hold an exhibition of works by Tomoko Konoike, titled "Little Fur Anger." This exhibition will show works newly created by Konoike from two approaches: drypoint and carving.

For the drypoint works, Konoike made selections from the Dobutsu no Kotoba ("Words of Animals") series of illustrations for the "Kadan/Haidan" poetry column in Asahi Shimbun (February 6 - April 26, 2017 editions), of which she was in charge last year. The works were newly produced after a repeated process of trial and improvement with the printer. For them, she chose two colors: black and peacock blue, the latter resembling the hue of the feathers on a male peacock's neck. The production was based on a process of printing these colors twice in succession with the same plate. On the finished print, the subtle slippage arising in this process engendered an effect conveying the wriggling and noise of the "little lives" of animals and insects. The printing was done without removing the copper ridges and burrs pushed out of plate made by the drypoint needle. This leaves fine lines that seem to ooze color and look as if they have the feel of the soft fuzzy fur on small creatures.

In parallel with these drypoint works, Konoike produced works by carving lines with a chisel on a flat board base. Two years ago, when she first made a woodblock print, she felt a strong attraction to the board of the inscribed block. She was excited by the way in which the sketch she made on the board in pencil was rapidly chiseled away, dynamically destroying the illusion of a drawing. The memory of that experience lay behind her production of these new carved works.