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An image of Kitayama cedars by MIYAKE Yasubumi

MIYAKE Yasubumi

(Japan 1937– )

Title
Kitayama cedars
Alternative title:
Kitayama sugi
Place of origin
Japan
Period
Heisei period 1989 - → Japan
Year
1990
Media category
Print
Materials used
screenprint
Edition
2/28
Dimensions

46.0 x 46.0cm image; 60.0 x 60.0cm sheet;

Signature & date
Signed l.r., pencil "Y. Miyake". Not dated.
Credit
Gift of the artist 1993
Accession number
442.1993
Copyright
© MIYAKE Yasubumi
Location
Not on display
Further information

Miyake is a Tokyo artist whose work exemplifies the piquant Japanese feeling for graphic design. In this clever image he has taken two 'kanji' (Chinese characters) and used them as the basis of his composition. The character for 'colour' is used for the green trees while the character for 'cryptomeria' appears in white serried rows across the green ground. The print reflects the artist's witty skill with typography in the repetitiveness and seemingly random placement of the 'kanji'. The beauty, versatility and layered meaning of 'kanji' are particularly exploited by graphic designers of Japan who can produce succinct yet devastatingly effective designs using only 'kanji' in ways as imaginative and varied as Miyake's.

Jackie Menzies, Contemporary Japanese Prints: The Urban Bonsai, 1992, pg. 61.

Bibliography (1)

Jackie Menzies (Australia) (Author), Contemporary Japanese Prints : The Urban Bonsai, Sydney, 1992, 61, 69 (colour illus.). cat.no. 37

Exhibition history (11)

The Urban Bonsai, Queensland Art Gallery, 04 Mar 1992–04 May 1992.

The Urban Bonsai, National Art Gallery, Wellington, 20 Jun 1992–09 Aug 1992.

The Urban Bonsai, Christchurch Art Gallery, 12 Sep 1992–29 Oct 1992.

The Urban Bonsai, Manawatu Art Gallery, 13 Nov 1992–10 Jan 1993.

The Urban Bonsai, The George Adams Gallery, Victorian Arts Centre, 18 Mar 1993–25 Apr 1993.

The Urban Bonsai, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 08 May 1993–01 Aug 1993.

The Urban Bonsai, Lewers Bequest and Penrith Regional Art Gallery, 11 Mar 1994–24 Apr 1994.

The Urban Bonsai, The Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, 19 May 1994–19 Jun 1994.

The Urban Bonsai, Campbelltown Arts Centre, 15 Jul 1994–21 Aug 1994.

The Urban Bonsai, Moree Plains Gallery, 11 Nov 1994–24 Dec 1994.

The Urban Bonsai, Tweed River Regional Art Gallery, 01 Feb 1995–05 Mar 1995.