Ritsuko Ozeki @ Froelick Gallery, PDX

Ritsuko Ozeki, Down Up, 2014; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2015

While in Portland, Oregon, I stumbled across Japanese artist Ritsuko Ozeki's exhibition Distance at the Froelick Gallery. It ran from July 21 to August 29, 2015.

Ritsuko Ozeki is a Tokyo-based painter and printmaker. She studied painting and intaglio at the Musashino Art University in Tokyo, Japan and earned both a B.A. in 1994 and an M.A. in 1996. Down Up is massive: it's 98" X 137" and arrived at the Froelick Gallery neatly folded in an envelope. Ozeki printed the artwork in modules of Japanese paper using about six different plates and then joined them together to create one large whole. She employed etching, aquatint, and collage in her process. According to Froelick Gallery director Rebecca Rockom, Down Up references the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in 2011.

Ritsuko Ozeki, Down Up detail, 2014; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2015

Ozeki's prints, especially Down Up, drew me in immediately and they have had a significant impact on how I think about my work, especially her spacing, line, and repetition of modules. 

Her use of folds is right up my alley too. This week I started reading Sarah Thornton's 33 Artists in 3 Acts and her mention of the folded work of Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco (his Corplegados) and Chilean artist Eugenio Dittborn caught my attention.

To learn more about Ozeki:
http://ritsukoozeki.tumblr.com
http://ritsukoozeki.com