Untitled I 1961

Tetsuo Ochikubo made this ‘Untitled I’ using a printmaking technique that allows for some pretty cool textures and repetition. Look at how the blue and black inks aren't just flat, but kind of granular, like he’s coaxing the color onto the paper bit by bit. I love how the big, dark circles hover at the top, like a row of curious eyes, or maybe those gaps in the clouds you see when you're flying. The way he’s built up the blue ground with these tiny, scratchy marks gives it a real sense of depth, almost like you could dive right in. And then, these little squares scattered across the bottom—are they buildings, islands, or just shapes? The whole piece has this push and pull between order and chaos, like someone trying to build a neat little world out of messy, unpredictable materials. It reminds me a little of Terry Winters’ prints, the way he layers up these organic forms until they almost become something else entirely. Ultimately it’s just a very beautiful set of decisions.