Kikareru (withered trees)

Kikareru (withered trees) presents trees at the far end of their seasonal cycle — stripped of leaves, their bare branches making intricate patterns against an empty sky. Kitaoka was as interested in the winter tree's skeletal structure as in its summer fullness, the bare branches offering a different kind of formal challenge: complex, spidery line rather than massed color. The withered tree is also a subject with deep resonance in Japanese aesthetics, the austere winter form valued as a different kind of beauty from summer's abundance.