Artist Statement
When I lived in Japan I found the people and the scenery fascinating, and after a while I was struck by the duality of how something so fascinating can at the same time appear to be quotidian and mundane, something a thousand years old look at home next to a modern convenience.
I would watch Sunday morning dice games unfolding in ancient gardens, thousand-year-old stone lanterns standing beside bustling roadways, and suburban lots transformed into treasure troves of weathered fishing floats. These sightings, at once mundane and mesmerizing, inspired a series of prints that would eventually become my debut solo exhibition, 'Interesting in Japan,' held in Custer, South Dakota, in 2018.
The title, deliberately uninspiring, aimed to distill the essence of my fascination with the quotidian exotic that surrounded me. I crafted a poorly written haiku to accompany the show as a statement, its words echoing the themes of the exhibition.
There are two or three prints missing from the series, which were sold before I could get good scans of them. I intend to replace those prints with new ones, which I will upload here. The "updated" series will be shared here, a testament to the enduring power of those initial impressions I had of Japan.
