Flying Crane 1957

Tadashi Nakayama made this print, Flying Crane, using a whole lot of colour and texture to hint at an image. He wasn’t trying to nail any perfect likeness. There’s a real material sense of how this print was made. It’s like looking at a crime scene, trying to figure out what moves the artist made in the studio! Look at the brown mottled area, see how the paint seems almost sprayed and speckled onto the paper? Then you have these sharp, fine lines cutting across it, like frantic strokes of a calligraphy pen, binding the image. That raw, unprocessed mark-making, it reminds me of Cy Twombly’s work, with its scribble-like energy. Nakayama’s crane isn't about a specific bird; it’s a fleeting, poetic gesture. It leaves space for the viewer to bring their own associations and experiences. It’s never quite finished, always open to interpretation.