Death and Metamorphosis

“Death and Metamorphosis” Vol. 1 Night, “Death and Metamorphosis” Vol. 2 Flood

『死と変容 第1集 夜』1988年、『死と変容 第2集 洪水』 1990年
“死和變容 第1集 夜”,“死和變容 第2集 洪水”
“死和变容 第1集 夜”,“死和变容 第2集 洪水”
“죽음과 변용 제1 집 밤 ”,“죽음과 변용 제2 집 홍수”

KARASAWA, Hitoshi

柄澤 齋
柄泽 斋
가라사와 히토시

1988,1990
Wood engraving on paper

Visionary images depicted in elaborate wood engraving by a print artist born in Nikko.

日光生まれの版画家が細密な木版画で描いた幻想的イメージ
日光出生的版畫家, 用細密的木版畫描繪了幻想中的景象
日光出生的版画家, 用致密的木版画描绘了幻想中的景象
닛코출생인 판화가가 세밀한 목판화로 그린 환상적 이미지

Ever since coming across wood engraving at the age of twenty, Karasawa Hitoshi has been absorbed in its monochrome world. The production of a wood engraving, in which the form of something is brought to the surface from within the pitch dark, might be similar to the working of the Creator, in which life is brought into being from the nebulosity of the boundless universe.

The collection of wood engravings by Karasawa entitled Death and Metamorphose includes numerous images regarding death spun out with the artist’s imagination. In Volume 1 Night, the artist’s concepts go to-and-fro between the darkness of the universe and human history, from which a child clinging to a single wing adrift in the Galaxy or a brain or heart placed on a platter emerge. In Volume 2 Flood, rich variations of images of watery planets are presented.