Private-7

A second entry in the "Private" series, Private-7 belongs to a sequence whose numbering tracks Yoshikawa's continuing private formal investigations rather than a developing narrative. The print would consist of stacked color planes printed from individually carved cherry blocks, each registered against the next by kento marks cut into the block edge. Shapes in the Private prints tend toward geometric or hybrid biomorphic forms — circles, arcs, irregular polygons — held in tension across the sheet without resolving into recognizable figuration. Yoshikawa's use of water-based pigments on washi yields flat color fields with a soft matte finish; the effect depends on the absorbency of the paper and the pressure applied through the baren rather than on surface gloss. Among Japanese mokuhanga artists working today, Yoshikawa's commitment to fully abstract composition is uncommon; the Private series is the strand of her output framed as personal formal experiment rather than as commentary or depiction.