Kawachi Seiko Flying Characters Set Anastatic Relief Prints | Limited & Hand Signed #64887

Limited to just 35, this series of prints perfectly capture the unique style of Japanese artist Seiko Kawachi. Titled ‘Flying Characters’, they represent to the artist the helplessness of living creatures trapped in the urban world. Seiko Kawachi describes the printing technique as ‘anastatic’ for conventional relief printing in woodblock as contrasted with ‘intaglio’, where the block is engraved. It is rare to see the complete set of prints (A through D) available to purchase together. This large series of prints was created in 1985 and each one is hand signed and numbered by the artist.

Size (approximately): 46cm x 30cm each print

Kawachi was born in Uenohara in Yamanashi Prefecture. He graduated in 1973 from the Oil Painting Department of Tama Art University, but had already begun to experiment with prints as a result of the influence of the lively printmaking department there. He won the newcomer’s prize at the Japanese Print Association Exhibition in 1970. From graduation up to 1985 he taught at his old university, at which time he went on a Monbusho (Ministry of Education) Scholarship to Columbia University, New York, Graduate School, followed by travel in Europe in 1986. In 1976 he had won the Grand Prix at the Japanese Print Association Exhibition and from then on worked mainly in woodblock, having experimented until then with silk screen, lithograph and even collages. His mature style has been semi-abstract, almost always on dark backgrounds, with constant reference to mechanical stress. He has periodically tried other forms of subject-matter but always so far returned to his basic themes. He has developed a potent combination of straightforward woodblock (‘anastatic’ to use his word) with engraved blocks (intaglio). Some of his compositions have been very large and in series of sheets. Until around 1982/3 he used the name Kawachi Shigeyuki.