Untitled (Morisue 02)

A second print in the artist's untitled sequence, this etching extends Morisue's investigation of ordinary objects rendered at intimate scale. Intaglio printing — in which ink is forced into incised lines on a metal plate, then transferred under pressure to dampened paper — allows the kind of fine linear detail that suits her slow, attentive subject matter: a torn corner of paper, a small utensil, a domestic fragment held in isolation on the page. The plate mark itself, embossed into the sheet around the printed image, becomes part of the composition, framing the depicted object within a quiet rectangle of paper. Morisue's training at Kyoto City University of Arts (MFA 2009) and her continued practice in Kyoto place her within a contemporary print scene that has absorbed Western intaglio techniques into a Japanese sensibility for restraint. Gallery Hosokawa in Osaka has been her primary representation; her work was selected for the 3rd PATinKyoto Print Art Triennale in 2022.