PRINTMAKING – TETSUYA NODA

PRESS RELEASE

Tetsuya Noda was born in 1940 in Shiranui and currently resides in Tokyo, where he has served as an associate professor at the National University of Fine Arts since 1977.

He studied painting at the Tokyo University of the Arts from 1959 to 1965, while simultaneously learning woodblock printing techniques under the guidance of one of the leading artists in the field, Tadashige Ono.

The artist made a significant debut in the Japanese art world in 1968 by winning the coveted Grand Prize on his first attempt at the Tokyo International Graphic Art Biennale. At that time, he received special praise for his interesting and commendable method of combining traditional woodblock techniques with modern silkscreen photography.

Noda has participated in numerous international graphic art exhibitions and biennales, receiving awards in Krakow, Fredrikstad, Frechen, Ljubljana, and most recently at the Graphica Creativa Triennale in Jyväskylä. His works are part of several prominent art collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Museum in Warsaw, the National Gallery in Prague, the Cincinnati Art Museum, the National Gallery in Dresden, the National Museum in Oslo, the Museum of Solidarity in Santiago, the Moderna Galerija in Ljubljana, and the Krakow Museum.

This exhibition, which includes 49 works, is a retrospective review of the artist’s production from 1968 to 1980. The main theme of the works is the everyday life and reality of a private individual. Noda uses photographs he has taken himself, which are more like drawings as he refines them on the plate using pen and brush. Noda creates a mimeographic pattern from his photograph and prints it with a roller. This is followed by printing the background and other areas using traditional Japanese woodblock techniques. The artist typically uses handmade Japanese paper in his works. The soft and slightly rough texture of this material, combined with a background printed with a deep understanding of the unique qualities of woodblock printing, creates a delicate antique silver effect.

By marking all his prints like diary pages, Noda connects them to specific moments in the present; in the final prints, however, the element of time is lost. This timelessness forms an essential part of his works.

Although his works are firmly grounded in the surrounding reality, they nevertheless possess a certain dreamlike quality. In this respect, all of Noda’s works, no matter how realistic they may seem, conceal something unreal, as if they were imaginary visions or scenes from a play.

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