Saru Gallery
       Japanese Prints & Japanese Paintings

Kristensen, Tom (1962 - )

The Nurikabi (ぬりかべ)
#12 from the series Kaiju Manga ( Pictures of Magical Animals), printed in an edition of 30 in the spring of 2018. Paper size 21.5 x 30.5 cm.

Euro 90

Fine impression, colours and condition.

The traveller making a long and difficult journey will be blocked by the Nurikabi, a wall with eyes. it is possible to beat the wall with a stick and perhaps it will move. This design takes inspiration from the Harunobu print depicting a couple climbing the wall of the Yoshiwara red light district, taking hold of a branch from the overhanging plum tree. The fruit of the tree is the symbol of forbidden knowledge, and the random reward of a gambling machine. Other symbols here depict the ensign of the Titanic and life preservers, suggesting a sea crossing. The notion of asylum is folded into the mental anguish of the Munch scream, here combined with the lowest outcome of a roll of the dice, snakes eyes.