Angel 1957

Kiyoshi Saito made this woodblock print called "Angel", using graphic lines to create a striking image in black and reddish-brown. Imagine him, sleeves rolled up, carefully carving away at the wood. The angel stands still, surrounded by graphic branches, and on a lotus throne; its face is reduced to the simplest shapes. There’s something very knowing in the way Saito has approached this image. The color palette is simple, earthy, and natural, but the marks have an impressive variety in the way that they are carved. See how the black cloak is broken up with vertical white lines. I wonder if he felt like he was communing with something when he was making this, and in what way is he different from a so-called trained artist? I wonder if Saito even thinks about training at all. The lotus and the gesture of prayer connects him to something larger. Artists are in an ongoing conversation, inspiring each other’s creativity across time. The work invites multiple interpretations and meanings rather than fixed readings.