Dancing with Wood: 50 Years of Woodcuts: Naoko Matsubara

1 - 31 October 2015
Works
  • Naoko Matsubara, Ah Spring 23/25
    Naoko Matsubara, Ah Spring 23/25 Sold
  • Naoko Matsubara, Ah Tibet 13/25, 1995
    Naoko Matsubara, Ah Tibet 13/25, 1995
  • Naoko Matsubara, Ballerina 8/35, 1977
    Naoko Matsubara, Ballerina 8/35, 1977
  • Naoko Matsubara, Dōjōji 9/20, 2002
    Naoko Matsubara, Dōjōji 9/20, 2002
  • Naoko Matsubara, Flute, 1976
    Naoko Matsubara, Flute, 1976
  • Naoko Matsubara, Janusian A 2/10, 2015
    Naoko Matsubara, Janusian A 2/10, 2015
  • Naoko Matsubara, Janusian B 1/10, 2015
    Naoko Matsubara, Janusian B 1/10, 2015 Sold
  • Naoko Matsubara, Jungle Walk 2/15, 2004
    Naoko Matsubara, Jungle Walk 2/15, 2004
  • Naoko Matsubara, Kenkun Jinja (Kenkun Shrine) 4/50, 1977
    Naoko Matsubara, Kenkun Jinja (Kenkun Shrine) 4/50, 1977
  • Naoko Matsubara, Kiln A 1/10, 2015
    Naoko Matsubara, Kiln A 1/10, 2015
  • Naoko Matsubara, Kiln B 5/10, 2014
    Naoko Matsubara, Kiln B 5/10, 2014
  • Naoko Matsubara, Liturgy B 8/25, 1995
    Naoko Matsubara, Liturgy B 8/25, 1995 Sold
  • Naoko Matsubara, Maria Pages 7/25, 2012
    Naoko Matsubara, Maria Pages 7/25, 2012
  • Naoko Matsubara, Mythological A/P , 1998
    Naoko Matsubara, Mythological A/P , 1998
  • Naoko Matsubara, Prostration 8/25, 1987
    Naoko Matsubara, Prostration 8/25, 1987
  • Naoko Matsubara, Shimmering Spring C 1/11, 2015
    Naoko Matsubara, Shimmering Spring C 1/11, 2015
  • Naoko Matsubara, Shojo 5/20, 2014
    Naoko Matsubara, Shojo 5/20, 2014 Sold
  • Naoko Matsubara, Silk Threads Waft from the Nose of a Dog 9/20, 2002
    Naoko Matsubara, Silk Threads Waft from the Nose of a Dog 9/20, 2002
  • Naoko Matsubara, Snow Tree B 1/25, 2014
    Naoko Matsubara, Snow Tree B 1/25, 2014
  • Naoko Matsubara, Soaring 4/35, 2011
    Naoko Matsubara, Soaring 4/35, 2011
  • Naoko Matsubara, Spring Flow 3/50, 1979
    Naoko Matsubara, Spring Flow 3/50, 1979
  • Naoko Matsubara, Spring Letter 36/50, 1979
    Naoko Matsubara, Spring Letter 36/50, 1979 Sold
  • Naoko Matsubara, Super Natural Power of a Wrestler 2/15, 2002
    Naoko Matsubara, Super Natural Power of a Wrestler 2/15, 2002
  • Naoko Matsubara, Tibetan Monastery C 4/25, 1994
    Naoko Matsubara, Tibetan Monastery C 4/25, 1994
Overview

For over fifty years Naoko Matsubara has worked in, through, with, and about “wood.” She has engaged with the material in its raw and processed form, revelling in it as her preferred medium for creative expression. From the start she rejected the rigidity of traditional Japanese woodcut printmaking (ukiyo-e), her heritage, embracing instead the modernist tenets of self-identity, subjective response, spontaneity and freedom of expression, and enhancement of the medium’s inherent qualities. She has, for all intents and purposes, “danced” wood, profoundly and with conviction. This dance has manifested itself in myriad ways, her own aesthetic sense being guided by her personal predilections and impulses at any given time. Challenging herself to venture within and beyond the conventional boundaries of the woodcut, driving her creative processes with new inflections of technique, she has created a body of work that is consistently rich in content, powerful in expression, and evocative to the core.