Le scope imparfait

A large-format copperplate engraving (65 × 90 cm) whose French and Japanese titles together — "The Imperfect Instrument" — point to an abstracted apparatus or measuring device rendered through engraved line. Following Kobayashi's mature 2020s practice, the composition likely sets densely cross-hatched and burin-cut linework against fields of chine-collé, where thin sheets of colored or patterned paper are bonded into the plate impression during printing. The resulting surface places the regular tooth of engraved hatching against the softer registration of laid paper edges, a tension consistent with the title's reference to imperfection within an instrument. The work descends from the Atelier Contrepoint tradition in Paris, the studio successor to William Hayter's Atelier 17, where multi-plate intaglio and viscosity printing methods have shaped a generation of contemporary Japanese engravers including Chiaki Ogawa. Exhibited through the CWAJ Print Show, 'Le scope imparfait' represents Kobayashi's continued engagement with large-format multi-plate engraving and the bilingual titling convention common to Tokyo–Paris trained printmakers of her generation.