MITSUSHIGE NISHIWAKI

Etchings

As a flamboyant and joyful start to the New Year, North House Gallery is pleased to present in the main gallery this exhibition of etchings by Mitsushige Nishiwaki, a Japanese etcher and graphic designer based in Tokyo. Some of the smaller work is framed but the remainder will be densely hung or laid out unframed in a riot of colour, which is how he himself presents his shows.

One immediately noticeable feature of his etchings is that, apart from the smallest ones (roughly A4 size), they are made up of separately etched and printed rectangles, as many as 25. Each plate is etched on copper, colour added with a plastic plate, and printed in Charbonnel etching ink on separate pieces of Hahnemuhle paper archivally joined together. This is a laborious process, complicated again by the minutiae of every image.

Mitsushige Nishiwaki did not start out as an artist: after graduation from Hosei University he travelled extensively in charge of European business for a Japanese Industrial company. Long walks in each new city, taking in every new detail, inspired him eventually to make the leap and after graduate studies in graphic design, and work as a graphic designer in New York City, he taught himself etching. Since 2009 he has produced a stream of his charming, slightly eccentric and innocently humorous images based on his observations of cities in Europe and the US.

Mitsushige Nishiwaki's graphic design work and his etchings are mutually supportive. His exhibitions lead to prestigious commissions for graphic work in books, advertising, fashion and interiors while those commissions prompt new ideas for his independent work, which has been exhibited in Japan, France, the United States and England. North House Gallery was the first gallery in the UK to show his work, in 2012, and has continued to show him regularly. A selection of framed work decorating the ground floor of Lucca Enoteca in Manningtree is also for sale through the gallery.

The print room and smaller galleries will be rehung with the remaining prints from the last show by Kate Boxer and Chris Orr RA.