Nana Shiomi – Durer’s Law of Printmaking – Twin Rhinos

Featured in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2023

The Laws of Printmaking
As a printmaker, I always think about dualities and the nature of printmaking. I often use
upside-down images, mirror images, and opposites. The format of playing cards is a perfect
vehicle for my message. Newton’s Apple and Durer’s Rhinos came to me from their silhouettes,
Hearts and Spades. I pay homage to these historic heroes.
Apples are the most familiar fruits. The apple has historically significant meanings and
stories. The story of Newton’s Law of Gravitation is one of them. I found the image of cutting in
half an apple enigmatic. A beautiful cross-section is only revealed when it is cut in half.
Durer’s Rhinoceros is one of the most famous images of woodcut print. Durer made woodcut
printmaking a high-quality method of communication in Europe. His Rhinoceros is not an
accurate representation. He drew it from his imagination. I admire Durer’s achievement as a
woodcut printmaker and invite the Rhinoceros into my printmaking world.

Shiomi’s woodcut prints are a combination of relief and intaglio water-based printmaking, rooted in the traditional methods of the Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock printmaking. She prints by hand with a baren, and has added her own experimental printing techniques and tools.

Shiomi studied at the Tama Art University, Tokyo, She moved to London in 1989 and attended the Royal College of Art in 1991. Her work is in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum; Ashmolean Museum; Oriental Museum; Pallant House Gallery; Embassy of Japan in the UK; Aberystwyth University; Clare Hall, Cambridge; Wimbledon School of Art; Brunel University; Royal College of Art; Durham University; John Snow College; University of Chichester collection; Bronx Museum of the Arts (USA); Johnson Museum, Cornell University (USA); National Museum in Gdansk (POLAND); Douro Biennial Collection Museum (PORTUGAL); Tama Art University Museum (JAPAN)