Untitled I 1961

This etching print was made by Tetsuo Ochikubo, but when is anyone’s guess! The print has this cool horizon line, like a landscape, but what kind? Like a cosmic ocean or something. There are these big circles lined up in a row—maybe he was thinking about the moon or maybe he was just playing with simple forms. It is hard to know. Then, at the bottom, there’s this cluster of square shapes, like houses. It is as if Ochikubo was trying to find the balance between order and chaos, or maybe he was just improvising and going with the flow. The layering of colours gives the artwork real depth, like you can see through to another world. I love how the artist is exploring, not just showing. It reminds me of the prints of someone like Jasper Johns or even early Kandinsky. You sense that artists are talking to each other through their work.