Saturday, September 24, 2011

New Katazome Hero - Nishijima Takeshi 西嶋武司

As of today,  I add another member to my group of Katazome heroes. Along with Serizawa Keisuke and Inagaki Toshijiro I add Nishijima Takeshi.

I had seen Nishijima's work before but today looking at his works again today I was blown away. He is well known for his colourful depictions of mountains.


What I really love though is his use of COLOUR! Bold blocks of colour as well as very delicate details and washed out colours and shapes.
His artworks also have a real "katazome-feel" to them. Even though they are large panel works and kind of resemble silkscreened fabric, when you look up close he has all kinds of Katazome touches. Hard to explain...


What I find interesting too, is seeing his sketches beside the resulting artworks. How does he make such bold and whimsical katazome pieces out of these wishy-washy sketches? I really struggle to make that jump; from life-like studies and sketches to something really unique and highlighting the unique technique of Katazome.

One more image and I will stop this babble.

Its Kurama! About 15 minutes north of me on the train in north Kyoto.

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