In an entire exhibition at a museum show recently this image was so dramatic that I had to take a picture and really examine why it is so powerful. The print size was enormous–approximately 2×3 feet, block print ink on rice paper. What impresses me is the simplicity of the overall design of the bird shape. This is a detail of the entire print, maybe 25% of the whole size. We can all imagine the complexity of the overlapping shapes of feathers on a bird. How do you select what is important to use and what to leave out? This is the genius of a design like this. The artist made great choices of key shapes and simplified to the essence of the form. The beautiful warm tone of the golden brown transitioning to a deep warm black was just perfect. The Inuit Indian/Eskimo art exhibition was held in 2015 at the Eitelborg Museum in Indianapolis, IA.
