Shirokoma Tao's solo exhibition "e-12 -snow on and off all day-" will be held at YUGEN Gallery from Saturday, November 19th to Thursday, November 24th, 2022.
Shirokoma Tao is an artist who uses a unique woodblock printing technique that utilizes digital equipment such as graphic software and laser processing machines to create a range of designs rich in mythological narratives.
Shirokoma expresses a poetic world of whiteness by replacing various kinds of white, such as plaster paint or the white background of printing paper, with overlapping images that have a multi-layered structure like a print.
Shirokoma also collects antique books from the 1800s to early 1900s from countries such as France, Germany, and the Czech Republic, as well as antique lace, and often uses these antique materials as a source of inspiration for her work, incorporating universal motifs that have been depicted throughout the ages, such as animals, trees, and lace patterns.
The classical and elegant atmosphere that permeates Shirokoma's work comes from this background, but it is not simply a nostalgic taste. The works, which are produced using a variety of digital equipment and modern work processes, simultaneously have an extremely modern and kitschy atmosphere.
The works on display this time are relief works that combine plaster-painted semi-three-dimensional motifs with woodblock prints made with oil-based lithographic ink, and woodblock prints that combine embossing using two woodblocks and dry printing with woodblocks, meticulously applying antique lace patterns to printmaking paper. In addition, he creates all of his own deformed frames and display fixtures to fit the shape of each work, and is always exploring more free forms of decoration. Please enjoy Shirokoma Tao's classical, modern, and poetic white world!
This exhibition will be the tenth in a series curated by YUGEN Gallery by ONBEAT, a bilingual art information magazine that takes a fresh look at Japanese art and culture and spreads its appeal to the world.
