Reverse Universe, Ichimatsu

The ichimatsu pattern — the checkered alternation of two colors, named for the eighteenth-century kabuki actor Sanogawa Ichimatsu — provides the structural framework for this composition. In mokuhanga, executing an ichimatsu grid demands precise kentō registration, with each square meeting its neighbor without overlap or gap. The "reverse universe" of the title suggests an inversion or doubling: tonal values flipped between adjacent squares, mirrored imagery within the grid, or a play between figure and ground in which positive and negative space exchange roles. Shiomi's broader practice negotiates between the geometric rigor available to woodblock and the organic, atmospheric forms she more often pursues. Here, the traditional pattern functions less as decoration than as an analytical device, partitioning visual space so that the eye reads each cell separately before perceiving the whole. The work belongs to her ongoing inquiry into how mokuhanga's structural constraints can themselves become compositional content.