Work.At21 1969

Funasaka Yoshisuke made this abstract print, titled ‘Work.At21,’ in 1969. There’s a playfulness here, a lightness. He’s not trying to trick you into thinking something deep. The piece is really about surfaces, textures, and a delicious palette. The flat planes of color in the borders are offset by the speckled surface of the paper and the grid of white dots. It's like he’s saying, “Hey, look at this, isn't it neat how these colors play together?” See that column of color on the right? That pink as it bleeds into blue, the hard edge of black, the hazy gray. It's a whole world of texture in one little corner. It's got that Japanese printmaking vibe, but with a modern twist. I'm reminded of Robert Rauschenberg's prints. Both artists share a love for the unexpected. Yoshisuke, like Rauschenberg, invites us to embrace art as a conversation, an ongoing process of exploration and discovery.