Camellia No 11

The eleventh entry in Sugiura Kazutoshi's camellia series brings his layered printmaking technique to a flower with enormous significance in Japanese aesthetic history — the tsubaki has been associated with samurai culture (its bloom falls whole, like a head in battle), with the tea ceremony, and with the transient beauty of late winter and early spring. The camellia's glossy leaves and waxy petals create distinct formal qualities from the iris, requiring Sugiura to adjust his approach: the petals of the camellia are fewer, larger, and more structural than those of his primary botanical subject, demanding different compositional solutions.