Title Blue Yodo Waltz
Artist / Creator Kyoko Matsunaga
Place of Publication Kyoto, Japan
Publication Date 2015
Process / Technique Archival inkjet printed, hand waxed and punched by the artist
Structure / Binding Scroll
Medium / Materials Beeswax
Paper Stock Scroll: Mitsumata paper. Box: Najio washi, persimmon dyed Kurotani washi, Skivertex Nuba
Dimensions (WxHxD) 2.2 x 12 x 2.2 inches. Extends out to 240 inches
Edition Size Edition of 10
Box / Wrapper Includes a custom box
Signed & Numbered Signed and Numbered

Blue Yodo Waltz by Kyoko Matsunaga -SOLD OUT!

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Rivers are the source of all development, and civilizations are made up of individuals. The original of this scroll was a collage on a QRS player piano roll of Blue Danube Waltz (Strauss) which I happened to find at an antique shop. When I lived in Osaka, I took pictures of ordinary local people while walking along the city's iconic Yodo river all the way to the bay as a collection of slice-of-life scenes of people in the limited area and time that I could experience at first hand, and laid them on the stream of the elegant waltz. Even though Japanese society is highly homogeneous and (she) tends to avoid making outstanding individuals, Osakans steadily carry down its unique culture just as modern European culture had been passed down in the people around Danube river.

Artist Bio

Kyoko Matsunaga is a Kyoto-based artist. She graduated from Kyoto Seika University with a BFA in Printmaking. Then she studied with a bookbinder, Yo Yamazaki, while working as a graphic designer for several years in Tokyo. Kyoko and her husband had lived in the San Francisco Bay Area where she learned new aspects of contemporary book arts between 2010 to 2013. Her work has been exhibited in Japan and abroad. Kyoko's images are created by selectively painting white over parts of snapshots of daily life, or images pulled from the Internet. she often uses semitransparent materials to create a sense of distance from reality. These creations have been inspired by the scenery of her dreams. Traces of light captured by the camera or our human eyes physically prove the existence of things. On the other hand, these altered images show how Kyoko recognizes and determines the world.