Oxnard Madame 1961

Matsumi Kanemitsu made this print, Oxnard Madame, and the process looks like it involved a little bit of everything. There’s lithography and screen printing, maybe even some monoprinting going on. I love how the big, dark shapes hover over this mottled, mossy ground. You can almost feel the push and pull of the squeegee there, right? And then, BAM! That horizontal slash of bright orange, tying the whole thing together. It's the kind of mark that makes you wonder, "How did they do that?" Was it planned? Or a happy accident? Looking at it, I’m reminded of those big, bold shapes in Robert Motherwell's prints, but with an added layer of funky, Californian grit. It’s like Kanemitsu is saying, "Let's take the serious stuff and mess with it a little." And isn’t that what art is all about? A conversation, a remix, a beautiful, messy experiment.