Fairy Tale 1964

Toshi Yoshida made this woodblock print, Fairy Tale, sometime in the mid-twentieth century. Look at how Yoshida used a warm palette of reds and browns. It reminds me that art-making is about embracing process, allowing materials to guide the way. The texture is rich, almost like a tapestry, with each block of color slightly offset. The way the colors sit next to one another, creating a layered effect, hints at the artist’s hand. There's one particular spot where the brown ink bleeds ever so slightly, giving it a tactile quality, as if you could feel the grain of the wood. It’s like a secret whispered from the artist to the viewer. Yoshida's print reminds me a bit of Joan Miro’s playful abstraction, though with a uniquely Japanese sensibility. Both artists invite us to see the world through a lens of whimsy and imagination, reminding us that art isn’t about answers, it’s about the questions it provokes.