memory/scale (drypoint and collograph)

The 2017 edition combines two intaglio approaches: drypoint, where a steel or diamond needle incises directly into the plate to raise a burr that catches ink in a soft, fibrous line; and collograph, where a built-up plate of glued and sealed materials carries both relief and intaglio ink across a textured surface. The pairing produces a printed sheet in which precise etched marks register against passages of granular tone and pressure-borne texture — well suited to Kumagai's stated subject of memory and the material residue of lived experience. Within his Kyoto-based practice, which centres on oil painting and cast-iron sculpture, this work belongs to a discrete print sub-channel; the title's pairing of "memory" and "scale" points toward his recurring concern with how personal recollection is registered in measurable, physical traces. Printed on dampened paper through an etching press, the edition treats the plate itself as a substrate for accumulated mark and accreted material, paralleling the layered surfaces of his painted and cast work.