Space&Space Nature 99E

Nature 99E continues Endo's 1999 sequence of Space&Space prints, in which a photographic motif from the natural world is juxtaposed with a flat geometric ground. The lettering (E) indicates its position within a serial set rather than a hierarchy of finish: each variant in the 99 group exchanges a different photographic fragment — a stand of trees, a patch of grass, a surface of water — against an altered colour field, so that the series reads as a controlled investigation of figure-ground relationships. Endo's technique combines offset photo-plate work with traditional Japanese woodblock printing on washi, an approach he was among the first Japanese printmakers to develop in the 1980s. The photographic passages preserve the tonal range of the original image while the surrounding plane is laid down through the baren or press as an absolute, opaque colour. As an artist trained first in graphic design before turning to fine art printmaking, Endo brings the registration discipline of the poster to the contemplative scale of the wall print.