White Tree A

A tree with white bark — birch, possibly, or aspen — is rendered in this composition designated "A," the first in what appears to be a series of white-tree studies. The tree's white bark is Kitaoka's subject as much as the tree itself: how a white form reads against the varying tones of a forest background, how the bark's texture translates into woodblock mark-making, how the tree's individual character can be captured in the medium's terms of clear-edged form and controlled color. White Tree A is the beginning of a sustained formal investigation.