Kerst- en nieuwjaarswens van Nippon Kokan Kabushiki in Shimizu 1950 - 2000

Here is the Christmas and New Year's greeting card from Nippon Kokan Kabushiki in Shimizu. It's anonymous, so it's hard to know exactly when it was made. The card's message is clear, but the artistry behind it is less so. It's got a pattern of semi-visible circles, and in the center it wishes us happiness and good wishes for the coming year. I wonder what the artist was thinking about when they created this image. Maybe they felt the pressure to be cheerful, to ignore the chaos of life and just put a smile on things. It reminds me of the work of other painters who explore these kinds of tensions—the space between what we feel and what we show. Artists are constantly building on each other's ideas across time, and it all comes together to make something new. I think that's something to be grateful for.