Series: The Small Shady Rooms
Medium: Etching, aquatint
Dimensions: 7 5/8 x 6 inches (image) 11 5/8 x 11 5/8 inches (sheet)
Signature: Signed
Artist details: Japanese, 1986
Date finished: 2009
Edition: of 15

Medium: Etching, aquatint
Dimensions: 10 5/8 x 20 3/8 inches (image) 14 x 25 1/4 inches (sheet)
Signature: Signed
Artist details: Japanese, 1986
Date finished: 2015
Edition: of 15

Recommended by Sam (Owner & Director):
"Contemporary Japanese artist Azumi Takeda's etching Full, Full, Full is part of a wonderful series showing groups of people waiting, engrossed in various activities, or, as in this case, the artist focuses on the detritus left behind that references what they had been doing. There is order with the placement of the disparate objects, that speaks about each of the individuals that is no longer in the room. Takeda's use of the etching and aquatint process, is perfect for the detail required."

Series: Transmigration (Transferred Soul)
Medium: Wood engraving with chine-collé
Dimensions: 12 3/4 x 6 1/2 inches (image)
Signature: Signed
Artist details: Japanese, 1944
Date finished: 1988
Edition: of 40

Recommended by Catherine (Collections Specialist):

Keisei Kobayashi's intricate wood engravings often explore themes around ecology and nature mysticism. His piece Roots B from the 'Transmigration' series is a beautiful depiction of the reciprocity between humans and nature within the process of death. At a quick glance, the image appears to be of a dead tree, its scraggly and bare branches inviting the company of crows. A closer look reveals a glowing figure, sitting within the roots of the tree and bringing new life through the trunk. A clear symbol of rebirth in light of death, it also conveys a feeling of peaceful renewal in the midst of grief.

Series: Animals and Plants in Colors
Medium: Colored wood engraving
Dimensions: 16 x 12 inches (image), 23 1/4 x 19 inches (sheet)
Signature: Signed
Artist details: Japanese, 1944
Date finished: 2016
Edition: of 70

Recommended by Nikki (Fine Print Photographer & Content Publisher):
Kobayashi’s easily recognizable flora and fauna and color palette’s repeated pastel rainbow rolls lull his audience into a peaceful acceptance of this scene. Kobayashi has hypnotically pulled the viewer into his fantasy world where baby chicks and sea turtles emerge in the same space; and land and seascapes gently exist in a circular flow in the same plane. All of the birds, fish, frogs, etc are all observing the cock and hen. Cycles of life are in perfect balance in this imaginary space, where even one wrong step from the cock at the edge of the cliff can throw it into disharmony.