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From Brush to Block

Paintings and Prints by Imao Keinen and Kono Bairei

This exhibition explores the close and often overlooked relationship between painting and printmaking. Featuring paired works by Imao Keinen and Kono Bairei from our recent acquisition, this intimate exhibition invites viewers to trace how images move across media, from hand-painted surface to printed impression. By placing paintings and their corresponding prints side by side, the exhibition opens a window into artistic process and creative decision-making. It asks how ideas transform through material change, and how meaning is shaped not only by imagery, but by the medium through which it is made.

Celebrated for their vivid bird-and-flower imagery, both artists created compositions that were later transformed into printed editions, reflecting a moment when Japanese visual culture embraced the reach of publication while maintaining the elegance and sensitivity of brushwork.