“Tradition and Invention: the Woodcut Prints of Akira Kurosaki”

Akira Kurosaki knows patience is a virtue. The Japanese artist spent years mastering the painstaking, intricate art of woodcutting — then he spent another couple of years revolutionizing it. “Tradition and Invention: the Woodcut Prints of Akira Kurosaki” shows how Kurosaki took the practice of ukiyo-e, made famous between the 17th and 20th centuries by such artists as Hiroshige, Hokusai and Kunisada, and modernized it for contemporary times. Instead of creating the standard scenes of Japanese landscapes, theater and markets, Kurosaki carved abstract images full of geometrical shapes, distorted scenes and even recognizable silhouettes like the Statue of Liberty. He also used a wider range of colors than his predecessors. See the result of more than two decades of printmaking and even meet Kurosaki in a rare Texas visit at the opening today from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Oct. 1-Dec. 20, 2007