Nobuo Okawa was born in Tokyo, Japan and trained at St Martin’s School of Art, London in the late 1970s, where he became interested in the intaglio printmaking technique of mezzotint. His work has been exhibited in the UK, Japan and USA and a collection of his prints are held in the British Museum. Lawrence. R. H. Smith has described Nobuo’s work as pictorialized contemplation and unexpectedly compelling:
“His scrutiny of the very small and apparently insignificant lies deep in Japanese traditions of contemplation…. But it is also his sense of space, of emptiness extending vastly and eternally round these tiny points of life in the natural world. These modest flowers, these almost colourless floating seeds, tell with sharp poignancy of the short, mysteriously lonely lives of human beings, as full of meaning to themselves as to those who watch.”
We are delighted that Nobuo can join us for our Talking Art series. The talk will comprise a video of him demonstrating the mezzotint technique, followed by questions from the audience.