THE TOLMAN COLLECTION OF NEW YORK

Fudezuka-san has an unusual quirk for a visual artist. He decides on the title of his work before creating the actual image.  His earlier pieces are predominantly abstract, so looking at the much-worked surface, myriads of lines crisscrossing each other, resembling the weave of a textile more than a print, one marvels at his imagination.

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Fudezuka attended two of Japan’s most prestigious art universities, Musashino Art University for his undergraduate work, and Tokyo Geidai for his master’s degree. He is recognized by his peers as a true master of technique. His newest engravings, which focus on water, are contemplatively serene and one could easily just enjoy them for their beauty, until one realizes that the artist drew all those ripples free-hand onto the surface of the copper plate. No wonder that Japan’s National Printing Bureau approached him after he graduated: they wanted to hire him to design the plates for yen banknotes!

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Intaglio and woodblock are his media of choice and he has taught those techniques in both Canada and Poland, in addition to exhibiting widely in those countries, as well as in Japan and the United States. After teaching overseas, he returned to Japan and now divides his time between his hometown of Kagawa, on the island of Shikoku, and Tokorozawa, near Musashino Art University, where he does the actual printing of his work.

Fudezuka doesn’t drive, so he lugs the copper plates on the bullet train from his home in Shikoku to his printing studio in Saitama, a labor of love indeed. He can work on the design in the quiet of his home, but recently mentioned that he enjoys the community of other printers when he is working to pull (print) the edition.

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