TAKAHASHI (Shohachiro).
Mizu no kuni • Hi no kuni: terre d'eau • terre de feu
Experimental visual poetry by a Japanese avant garde artist
An epic visual poem expressed across two sides of 3.7 metre scroll (nearly 7.5m in total!), featuring experimental use of typography, illustration and photo collage.
The present work is a dual poem, ‘The Land of Water’ and ‘The Land of Fire’. Printed on two sides of a long roll of paper, Takahashi visually and typographically explores two of the elements. The design and layout is extremely clever; purposely printed on thin washi paper, when held up to the light both sides of poem connect to form one long, coherent image – and indeed symbolically the elements of fire and water form a dance.
This is a wonderful printed work by the avant garde Japanese artist and poet Takahashi Shohachiro (1933–2014). Born in the northern prefecture of Iwate, Takahashi was a prominent member of the poetry collective called the Vou Club and was a regular contributor to their magazine, VOU. Along with fellow poet Ito Motoyuki (1935–), he co-founded a visual poetry publication called 317 in 1975*.* An internationally-minded artist, Takahashi also collaborated with the Italian poet Francesco Conz (1935–2010). This present title was his contribution to an international visual poetry exhibition that was held in Milan in December of 1969.
Very rare. Only 4 copies in OCLC (MoMA, Getty, Northwestern, Princeton).
