An introduction to the techniques behind Ryuichi Oka’s work!
(The artist at work)
Oka creates his pieces using Yuzen dyeing, a traditional technique that flourished in the Edo period.✨
It is the very same method used to dye kimono.
〜Why Yuzen dyeing?〜
Oka has always been drawn to expression through line, and among the dyeing techniques, Yuzen proved best suited to drawing lines onto cloth and fabric. He composes each work with careful attention to the density and openness of his lines and to the spaces he leaves bare.
As the photo above (⬆︎) shows, Oka’s work is built from three layers: a first layer of color over metal foil, and a second layer of silk bearing the linework above it.
This is why the actual pieces convey such an intriguing sense of depth.
[About the process]
・Oka begins by sketching cityscapes, then develops the finished painting from those sketches.
・To build the texture (matiere) of the ground, he mixes plaster and stucco and applies it over the panel surface, onto which a net has been fixed.
Once the texture has partly dried, he peels away only the net that had been fastened to the panel, leaving behind a ground that rises in a mesh-like pattern.
As the photo below (⬇︎) shows, this lets him create an intriguing surface!
・Once the ground has dried, he alters the color of silver foil through a sulfur reaction.
(Oka is highly skilled at the sulfur reaction of foil—as a university student, he reportedly knew more about it than a friend who was researching conservation and restoration. 😲)
Oka makes the silver foil react evenly to turn it gold, but controlling a sulfur reaction is extremely difficult—truly a virtuoso skill that only he can pull off!
[The Yuzen dyeing process]
Two layers of silk are used to render color and line.
The photo below (⬇︎) shows the areas intended for the linework being resist-treated with itome paste before dyeing (after dyeing, the paste is washed away to leave crisp white lines—masking so the fabric beneath does not take the dye).
⬇️Once the masking is done, the whole piece is dyed.
The photo above showed the silk for the linework being dyed; at the same time, the silk for the color is also being made. On the cloth to be colored, the spaces between the itome resist lines are filled in with a variety of hues.⬇︎
Both silks are made separately and finally stretched and joined together.
Because several layers of Yuzen-dyed silk come together into a single work, seeing it in person
lets you sense real depth in the piece.
You can make out the first layer of color over the foil and, above it, the second layer carrying the lines.
By layering several silks in this way, he achieves that intriguing sense of depth.
Incidentally, while many of the works in this exhibition are in a square format, he originally created mainly vertical pieces, and he reportedly produced square-format works for the very first time for this show!
