While living in Kyoto, I trained for ten years in the traditional Japanese woodblock printing style known as Ukiyo-e. The technical foundation for my artwork is rooted in that training, accompanied by techniques of contemporary western printmaking. Yet the imagery itself is very different from historical Ukiyo-e.
The process of printmaking is appealing to me because of its inherent surprises. There is always a negotiation going on with the material. Each piece of wood brings its own character to which I must adjust each time.
For me, the story behind the work is very important; there is a sense of narrative that is very private. The feelings and emotions that I convey through these abstract landscapes matter most to me. Almost always my images are of nature, but it is the essence of the landscape that I want to express, not realistic accuracy.
Because I am left-handed, part of my Ukiyo-e training included attending Sumi-e (ink brush painting) school to become more adept at using my right hand. Woodblock printmaking is a very precise step-by-step process of planning and design, so I really like Sumi-e for the freedom it gives me to express myself spontaneously.
This specific series was inspired by my observations of the attempts to preserve ancient wall paintings. Sometimes the areas that chip away are restored in an attempt to maintain the original vitality of the painting. Yet there is a certain beauty to wall paintings that honestly reflect the passage of time, which is what I wanted to capture in these pieces.
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Keiji Shinohara was born and raised in Osaka, Japan. After 10 years as an apprentice to the renowned Keiichiro Uesugi in Kyoto, he became a Master Printmaker and moved to the United States. Shinohara's natural abstractions are printed on rice paper with water-based inks from woodblocks in the Ukiyo-e style - the traditional Japanese printmaking method dating to 600 CE. Keiji Shinohara has been a visiting artist at over 100 venues. He has received grants from the Japan Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts and his work is in many public collections, including the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, and the Library of Congress.
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