"Dialogue Avec L'invisible #14"
Japanese Traditional Handmade Paper, "Bizan"
Archival Pigment Print, Signed
Shooting Year: 2016, Printing Year: 2019
Artist Proof
16.5" x 23.3" (unframed)
26.5" x 19" (framed)

About the Piece

I think my black-and-white works are inspired by sculptors, copperplate prints, and traditional Japanese arts. I studied art with a sculptor when I was a student. The sculptor's drawings made me feel that they were trying to grab the essence of the subject rather than following just the light on the surface. Even now it seems to me that an invisible space is being expressed. A thin black line appears on white paper, like etching-white that floats up from a velvety black, like mezzotint. I was attracted to the scene where white and black enhance each other's presence? white and black, life and death, joy and sadness, visible and invisible?each creates its opposite. And I believe that by being conscious of both sides, we can not only see the surface but also the deeper existence. The world is not just made of what we can see. I believe that is what nature is quietly telling us.

About the Artist

Motoko Sato first learned to take a humble attitude toward nature from her father, a botanical artist. While participating in traditional crafts, she studied oil painting and fine art from a sculptor. After graduating from Musashino Art University, she was involved in art education for 38 years. In the wake of her parents' deaths, she began photography in search of the moment she is alive. She mainly prints photos on art paper or traditional Japanese paper. Her work is inspired by traditional Japanese arts, copperplates prints, and sculpture. She makes a pilgrimage to Shikoku Henro every year without a camera. Taking pictures is another pilgrimage, respecting nature and sincerely wishing for peace in the cosmos.

https://www.motokosato.tokyo/