As a current Artist In Residence at Zea Mays Printmaking in Florence, Massachusetts through a one-year fellowship from the Pola Art Foundation in Japan, Yuki Nagashima was invited to host a solo show at Sanford Gallery in Zea Mays Printmaking which took place from 23/2/24 to 17/3/24.
Before Falling Asleep was an exhibition based upon a story that Yuki’s friend’s father told her when she was little, and reflects fond memories of her parents reading to her every night before bed as a child; “Our family would be on the beach when storm clouds came (big black clouds) and everyone else would pick up their towels and blankets and run under the boardwalk before it started raining. But we knew a secret – the big black cloud would come together (coalesce) and turn into Hinkle Dinkle the Whale and sink onto the ocean. We would swim out to it, climb on to its back and it would rise back up into the sky and take us to a foreign country we could explore and then bring us back home.”
The exhibition presented works depicting dreamscapes that feature imaginary places and motifs that Hinkle Dinkle the Whale might take them to. 17 monotype prints were included in the show, each one printed on Magnani paper using Akua inks.
Yuki’s monotype process involves painting directly on PETG plates which are then printed onto paper. The paper and board are fixed and passed through the press multiple times, creating many layers of paint on the paper which add depth to the image.
Previously, Yuki’s printmaking work was focused on monotone, and she unconsciously excluded many colours that she would use in painting or drawing. She tells us; “Coming to Zea Mays Printmaking and using water-based ink for the first time and producing a series of monotype prints was almost a revolution for me. I felt like the dots turned into lines.”
Her printmaking technique involves approaching the work indirectly through the use of the plate as a medium during the production process. By placing paper on a plate covered with ink and running it through a press, the ink is printed onto the paper and the work is created in a physically flat state, almost ignoring the time spent facing the plate. “When my work is finally printed, I feel like everything is visualized and I can see myself objectively,” says the printmaker.
Yuki certainly succeeded in her aim to create an “overwhelming space in a small space” in Before Falling Asleep. Each piece she created for the show is an independent work, but by displaying them all close together, the space became incredible powerful. “It was like a dream that I was forced into, and I loved it,” comments Yuki.
With her residency coming to a conclusion in June 2024, Yuki is looking forward to continuing to explore monotype printing at Zea Mays Printmaking. These monotypes will come together to form a solo exhibition in Kanazawa, Japan in October 2024.
@yukinagashima
yukinagashima.com
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