<b>VERANDA</b> / Paul Binnie2005<b>SOLD</b></em>

Details

Paul Binnie (born 1967) is a Scottish artist who studied at Edinburgh University and College of Art from 1985 to 1990. Afterward, he lived in Paris until 1993, when he traveled to Tokyo and met the contemporary woodblock printmaker Kenji Seki, from whom he learned much about the techniques of printmaking. Binnie uses 20 or more blocks for some designs, cherry for the keyblock and magnolia for the color blocks. His pigments also are those used for Nihonga (Japanese-style painting) except for bero-ai (Berlin blue or Prussian blue). He prefers torinoko kôzo and nishinouchi washi for his papers. He typically begins printing an edition with about 30 to 40 prints and then finishes the edition on demand. Upon finishing, he destroys the blocks.

Binnie, who has an interest in Ukiyo-e and Shin Hanga, has designed Japanese prints in several genres, blending traditional methods with an individual modern-day style. 

Words from the Binnie Studio

The print, you may already know, is a new state of Utamaro no Shunga, the very popular print previously part of my tattoo series, and also sold without tattoo as Engawa. As the tattoo version is nearing the end of the edition and the burgundy-ground non-tattoo version has been sold out for some years, I thought it might be fun to print a deep raspberry-pink background and use stronger colours, and make it part of the Azuma Nishiki Bijin Awase (A Collection of Eastern Brocade Beauties) series, like Asa ni Namida (Morning Tears), which I released recently. The new Engawa will be the fifth design in the set, and many of you will know that Cho Musubi, the first design, is now completely sold out.

Connoisseur's Note

As the artist pointed out, Veranda, 2009, is a reworking of an early design. This print is executed with a strawberry read background in an edition of 100 impressions. This print is in excellent condition with no problems to note.