Magic

Magic, a 1957 color woodblock printed in an edition of 50, brings the world of stage performance into Nakao Yoshitaka's figurative practice. The magician, like the acrobat, occupies a space between reality and illusion, performing acts that the audience knows are tricks but experiences as wonder. Nakao's sixth impression from an edition of fifty captures this performer through the woodblock's own sleight of hand, flat ink on paper creating the illusion of depth, movement, and presence. The edition size suggests the print was intended for relatively wide distribution, the magician's performance repeated fifty times, each impression a fresh performance of the same trick.