Nebulae 1960

Toshi Yoshida made this image, Nebulae, at an unknown date using printmaking techniques. The dominant gesture is the field of dark tones surrounding white shapes; you can imagine it as a process of applying ink, then wiping it away. The work seems to emerge from trial, error, and intuition. I sympathize with Yoshida here because printmaking demands a lot of the artist; it requires a deep understanding of the materials, like paper and ink. What might he have been thinking when he made this? Well, look at the texture he creates by stippling dots of ink – how does he communicate feeling, intention, or meaning? The surface of the print is built up through many delicate applications, much like Agnes Martin’s minimal fields of colour. Ultimately, artists are in an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. Painting and printing are forms of embodied expression which embrace ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.