Art by Medium: Sumi Ink

"Delivered and Discarded (positives) #2" is an original wall-hanging piece by Yoonmi Nam. This piece is made from the flattening out packing boxes that the artist traces to depict t...

A small octopus is inked in the Japanese style of Gyo-Taku print making over a playful background of black and white images of Frida Kahlo. Using sumi ink to "print" the octopus, th...

A small octopus is inked in the Japanese style of Gyo-Taku print making. Using sumi ink to "print" the octopus, the artist then embellishes it with colored pencil to convey an extra...

Chaco Terada, originally from Japan, was trained at a young age in the art of calligraphy. When Chaco was in her twenties she had the opportunity to work on her calligraphy in ten countries as a part of the cultural exchange programs, Up with People and The Ship for World Youth. When her time with those groups ended she moved to the United States, where she discovered photography and started incorporating it with calligraphy. Chaco has led demonstrations and has taught calligraphy workshops at the Dallas Museum of Art, The Crow Asian Art Museum, Greenhill School, and Saint Mark’s School of Texas among others. Chaco’s artwork has been exhibited in Dallas, Santa Fe, New York and Los Angeles and Paris. Process Statement My work uses the Japanese and Chinese calligraphic characters that I have practiced since childhood. I take a line from one character, and when that brushstroke is made it tells me where the next one should be placed. This method of working is untraditional. I have found that the details and individual lines of a character are beautiful by themselves. I may use the individual brushstrokes that form a written word, Japanese letters...

Full title: Wakening of Love and Comfort. The artwork is made on a wooden panel with Japanese paper, Oguni washi, pigment, sumi and nikawa glue. It is signed on the side, Japanese s...

Artist Jeff Conroy is an avid fisherman. He is also an accomplished artist. He brought these two disciplines together by learning the art of Gyotaku Painting. After having caught ...

This is a Gyotaku method painting of a fish on a textured mulberry paper background. This fish impression using minimal color is akin to a fossil. The fish is then hand painted in ...

A small octopus is inked in the Japanese style of Gyo-Taku print making. Using sumi ink to "print" the octopus, the artist then embellishes it with colored pencil to convey an extra...

This new series of painting is an exciting transition for Kinney as he is best known for assemblage and sculpture. “Anim”, the Latin root word of animal, means life, soul or breath. ...

A small octopus is inked in the Japanese style of Gyotaku print making. Using sumi ink to "print" the octopus, the artist then embellishes it with colored pe...

A Gyo-Tako print of large octopus is seen here in Jeff Conroy's work entitled "Orange Crush". To achieve this remarkable painting, the artist inks the octopus using traditional sum...

Full title: Awakening of Motivation and Energy. The artwork is made on a wooden panel with Japanese paper, Oguni washi, pigment, sumi and nikawa glue. It is signed on the side, Japa...

A Mackerel is inked and then "printed" with sumi ink in this Japanese style of Gyo-Taku print. The artist then embellishes the fish with colored pencil adding an extraordinary dimen...

A small octopus is inked in the Japanese style of Gyo-Taku print making. Using sumi ink to "print" the octopus, the artist then embellishes it with colored p...

In Japan, they are known as Nishikigoi, or living jewels. These brilliantly colored varieties of the Amur carp have been selectively bred by family owned fisheries for generations. W...

A small octopus is inked in the Japanese style of Gyo-Taku print making. Using sumi ink to "print" the octopus, the artist then embellishes it with colored pencil to convey an extra...

In Japan they are known as Nishikigoi, or living jewels. These brilliantly colored varieties of the Amur carp have been selectively bred by family owned fisheries for generations. Wh...

A small octopus is inked in the Japanese style of Gyo-Taku print making. Using sumi ink to "print" the octopus, the artist then embellishes it with colored pencil to convey an extraordinary dimensionality. By printing it on Mulberry paper, which mimics the swirl of water, the artist achieves a beautiful aesthetic. The artwork is matted and framed in a simple white wooden frame measuring 24.25h x 18.25w x 1d inches. Jeff Conroy Fontainebleau sumi ink and colored pencil on mulberry paper 12.50h x 18.25w in 31.75h x 46.35w cm JEC120 Gyotaku - A Japanese word translated from "gyo" meaning fish and "taku" meaning stone impression and is believed to get its inspiration from Chinese stone rubbings...

A small octopus is inked in the Japanese style of Gyo-Taku print making. Using sumi ink to "print" the octopus, the artist then embellishes it with colored pencil to convey an extraordinary dimensionality. By printing it on Mulberry paper, which mimics the swirl of water, the artist achieves a beautiful aesthetic. The artwork is matted and framed in a simple white wooden frame measuring 18.25h x 24.25w x 1d inches. Jeff Conroy Lemon Meringue sumi ink and colored pencil on mulberry paper 12.50h x 18.25w in 31.75h x 46.35w cm JEC118 Gyotaku - A Japanese word translated from "gyo" meaning fish and "taku" meaning stone impression and is believed to get its inspiration from Chinese stone rubbings...

From the mind of the artist comes "Sleestak Ray", taken from the extra-dimensional race of reptilian bipedal humanoid species native to the "Land of the Lost". He has combined a childhood favorite television show with a current favorite - fishing. The artist has master the Japanese art of Gyo-Taku printing using sumi ink and then highlights the piece with watercolors. The artist uses Mulberry...

A small octopus is inked in the Japanese style of Gyo-Taku print making. Using sumi ink to "print" the octopus, the artist then embellishes it with colored p...

In Japan they are known as Nishikigoi, or living jewels. These brilliantly colored varieties of the Amur carp have been selectively bred by family owned fisheries for generations. Wh...

This new series of painting is an exciting transition for Kinney as he is best known for assemblage and sculpture. “Anim”, the Latin root word of animal, means life, soul or breath. This exhibition features select large-format monochromatic oil paintings on stretched canvas and wood panels. On view as well are works on paper with Japanese Sumi Ink, which inspired the oil paintings. Kinney has been looking at pre-historic cave paintings as well as animals depicted therein, such as the Chauvet caves in Nice, Southern France. Emerging from the inextricable interplay of light and dark, Kinney’s black and white ink paintings capture the ever-shifting subjectivity shaped by shadow. Cast in Japanese Sumi ink, each unique painting explores the trajectories of human and animal, natural and architectural form- what is revealed or hidden? A variety of hand-torn, heavy weight papers add textural dimension to each mark and brush stroke, as well as through the immediacy of brushstrokes to depict the action within the artwork In his latest collection of works, Kinney explores animal form and meaning as seen in both contemporary and ancient times. In “Savanna (Zebras) ”, a stampede of zebras is depicted through oil paint on wood panel. Animal populations in regions like the horn of Africa today face the loss of their natural habitats due to extreme draught. He explores the deep imprint they leave behind and the interconnectedness of humans and animals in the world. With the balance of nature at stake, Kinney’s paintings underscore the importance of the relationship between the natural environment and civilization. Matt Kinney...

ABOUT Matt Kinney was born in Georgetown, Massachusetts. He attended Pratt Institute and The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, graduating in 1998. After ...

A small octopus is inked in the Japanese style of Gyo-Taku print making. Using sumi ink to "print" the octopus, the artist then embellishes it with colored pencil to convey an extraordinary dimensionality. By printing it on hand-made Mulberry paper the artist achieves a beautiful aesthetic. This artwork is unframed. Contact gallery for framing options. Jeff Conroy Goldilocks - Green Goblin...

Jongwang Lee's paintings challenge a dormant potential he believes lives within all humans. Inspired by Buddhist philosophies of space, Korean ideas of communication with the soul, a...

A small octopus is inked in the Japanese style of Gyotaku print making. Using sumi ink to "print" the octopus, the artist then embellishes it with colored pencil to convey an extrao...

Those of us of a certain age can't forget the color palette of the 70's - avocado green, burnt orange, and brown - lots of brown! Here, artist Jeff Conroy takes those fond memories of his childhood and brings them to life in this small octopus Gyotaku ink print. Using sumi ink to "print" the octopus, the artist then embellishes it with colored pencil to convey an extraordinary dimensionality. By printing it on hand-made Mulberry paper, in this case a paper that mimics the movement of water in subtle shades of brown, the artist achieves a beautiful aesthetic. The artwork is matted and framed in a simple white wooden frame measuring 18.25h x 24.25w x 1d inches. Jeff Conroy 70s Kitchen...

A small octopus is inked in the Japanese style of Gyo-Taku print making. Using sumi ink to "print" the octopus, the artist then embellishes it with colored pencil to convey an extraordinary dimensionality. By printing it on Mulberry paper, which mimics the swirl of water, the artist achieves a beautiful aesthetic. The artwork is unframed. Please contact the gallery for framing options. Jeff Conroy Blue Blood...

A small octopus is inked in the Japanese style of Gyo-Taku print making. Using sumi ink to "print" the octopus, the artist then embellishes it with colored pencil to convey an extraordinary dimensionality. By printing it on hand-made Mulberry paper, in this case a paper from the bygone Disco age, the artist achieves a beautiful aesthetic. The artwork is unframed. Please contact the gallery for framing options. Jeff Conroy Apples and Oranges sumi ink and colored pencil on mulberry paper 12.50h x 18.50w in 31.75h x 46.99w cm JEC135 Gyotaku - A Japanese word translated from "gyo" meaning fish and "taku" meaning stone impression and is believed to get its inspiration from Chinese stone rubbings of calligraphy, which then gave rise to printing . This tradition dates back to the mid-1800s and was used by fishermen to record their catches, but has also become an art form of its own. Prints were made using Sumi ink and Washi paper. It is rumored that Samurai would settle fishing competitions using Gyotaku prints...

A 65 million year old sea creature is captured here through the art of Gyotaku by Jeff Conroy. After inking and taking impressions of a reproduction fossil Ammonite shell and combini...

A small octopus is inked in the Japanese style of Gyo-Taku print making. Using sumi ink to "print" the octopus, the artist then embellishes it with colored pencil to convey an extra...

A small octopus is inked in the Japanese style of Gyo-Taku print making. Using sumi ink to "print" the octopus, the artist then embellishes it with colored pencil to convey an extra...

A newly discovered sea creature?? No, just an imaginative artist creating a Gyo-Tako print of large octopus by Jeff Conroy entitled "Cheetahpus". To achieve this remarkable painting, the artist inks the octopus using traditional sumi ink then "prints" it onto Mulberry paper - a soft, handmade paper. He then embellishes the details with watercolor to give extraordinary dimension and interest to its overall aesthetic. Framed as shown. Jeff Conroy Cheetahpus sumi ink and watercolor on mulberry paper 25h x 36.50w in 63.50h x 92.71w cm JEC080 Gyotaku - A Japanese word translated from "gyo" meaning fish and "taku" meaning stone impression and is believed to get its inspiration from Chinese stone rubbings of calligraphy, which then gave rise to printing . This tradition dates back to the mid-1800s and was used by fishermen to record their catches, but has also become an art form of its own. Prints were made using Sumi ink and Washi paper. It is rumored that Samurai would settle fishing competitions using Gyotaku prints. This original form of Gyotaku is still utilized today, and can be seen hanging in fish and tackle shops all...

A small octopus is inked in the Japanese style of Gyo-Taku print making. Using sumi ink to "print" the octopus, the artist then embellishes it with colored pencil to convey an extraordinary dimensionality. By printing it on Mulberry paper, which mimics the swirl of water, the artist achieves a beautiful aesthetic. The artwork is matted and framed in a white wooden frame measuring 18.25h x 24.25w x 1d inches. Jeff Conroy Cobalt Canary sumi ink and colored pencil on mulberry paper 12.50h x 18.25w in 31.75h x 46.35w cm JEC122 Gyotaku - A Japanese word translated from "gyo" meaning fish and "taku" meaning stone impression and is believed to get its inspiration from Chinese stone rubbings...

A small octopus is inked in the Japanese style of Gyo-Taku print making. Using sumi ink to "print" the octopus, the artist then embellishes it with colored pencil to convey an extraordinary dimensionality. By printing it on Mulberry paper, which mimics the swirl of water, the artist achieves a beautiful aesthetic. The artwork is unframed. Please contact the gallery for framing options. Jeff Conroy Boo Berry sumi ink and colored pencil on mulberry paper 12.50h x 18.25w in 31.75h x 46.35w cm JEC116 Gyotaku - A Japanese word translated from "gyo" meaning fish and "taku" meaning stone impression and is believed to get its inspiration from Chinese stone rubbings...

A small octopus is inked in the Japanese style of Gyo-Taku print making. Using sumi ink to "print" the octopus, the artist then embellishes it with colored p...

A small octopus is inked in the Japanese style of Gyo-Tako print making. Using sumi ink to "print" the octopus, the artist then embellishes it with colored pencil to convey an extra...

In this contemporary landscape in sumi ink on Mylar, a peaceful forest scene reflected on a stream is intricately detailed, beautifully capturing the serenity of a walk in the woods....

In this contemporary landscape in sumi ink on Mylar, a peaceful forest scene reflected on a lake is intricately detailed, beautifully capturing the serenity of a walk in the woods. ...

In this contemporary landscape in sumi ink on Mylar, a peaceful forest scene at wintertime is intricately detailed, beautifully capturing the serenity of a walk in the snow covered w...

In this contemporary landscape in sumi ink on Mylar, trees in a peaceful forest scene are intricately detailed, beautifully capturing the serenity of a walk in the woods. This ink d...

"Delivered and Discarded (positives) #4" is an original wall-hanging piece by Yoonmi Nam. This piece is made from the flattening out packing boxes that the artist traces to depict t...

Full title: Calmness can last forever, depending on how you perceive it Mari Ito was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1980. She majored in Nihonga, Japanese-style painting made with traditio...

In this contemporary landscape in black sumi ink on Mylar, a peaceful forest scene is intricately detailed, beautifully capturing the serenity of a walk in the woods. This ink drawi...

In this contemporary landscape in black sumi ink on Mylar, a peaceful forest scene is intricately detailed, beautifully capturing the serenity of a walk in the woods. This ink drawi...

In this contemporary landscape in black sumi ink on Mylar, a peaceful forest scene is intricately detailed, beautifully capturing the serenity of a walk in the woods. This ink drawi...

In this contemporary landscape in black sumi ink on Mylar, a peaceful forest scene is intricately detailed, beautifully capturing the serenity of a walk in the woods. This ink drawi...

Mari Ito was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1980. She majored in Nihonga, Japanese-style painting made with traditional practices, techniques and materials. She moved to Barcelona (Spain) i...

ink on New York Times Newsprint Signature is part of the artwork itself Unique This ink collage was created in 2005 -- more than a decade before the artist would join the billionaire mega-gallery David Zwirner Gallery, which signed him in 2017 This show was held at the experimental post-modern Reena Spaulings Gallery - which at the time was located at 371 Grand Street on the Lower East Side (the gallery later moved to East Houston Street) More about the hand designed promotional collage itself: It is is a hand painted, unique collage used for promoting the exhibition at Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York entitled "Josh Smith: Make it Plain," held on March 13-April 11, 2005. This work was done on a section of the February 13, 2005 New York Times newspaper devoted to coverage of the Oscars -- with one part featuring an advertisement for the 2005 Warner Brothers film "Constantine", a Horror/Fantasy film featuring Keanu Reeves, who plays a demon hunter, and Rachel Weisz, who plays a policewoman in a supernatural plot based upon Hellblazer comics. Interestingly, more than two decades on, there is a sequel in the works - and the tag lines to the trailer for the Constantine 2 movie are: “Hell’s Not Just a Place, it’s a war” and “The world you’re fighting for, it’s as broken as you are. But what you’re up against now, it’s different…” The newsprint is deliberately imperfect, with natural undulations, tears to the corners, etc. - all a deliberate part of the artist's original aesthetic, and not later damage. If you want pristine, go elsewhere. This newspaper has been read, consumed, repurposed and recycled. The work itself has been floated and framed in a museum quality wood frame under plexiglass. Measurements: Framed 30 inches (vertical) by 25 inches (horizontal) by 2 inches Artwork: 27 inches (vertical) by 22 inches More about Josh Smith's "Make it Plain" show: Recently, Josh Smith himself reminisced about this very 2005 exhibition at Reena Spaulings on social media, writing: "Such good shows there. Those were the days.." Josh Smith's 2005 exhibition "Make It Plain" at Reena Spaulings was an installation-based show that explored themes of artistic production, recycling, and the "material overload" of the painting process. The exhibition, which ran in April 2005, was characterized by an immersive, somewhat chaotic environment that combined painting with installation art. Key elements and themes of the show included: "Mirror" Paintings: The show featured large "mirror paintings," which were described as painted-over rejects or, in some contexts, canvases with abstract markings, featuring colorful traces on the edges suggesting frames around an opaque reflection. "Palette" Paintings: Smith included smaller "palette paintings" that displayed the raw,, sticky, and mixed pigments remaining from other, unseen works, highlighting the labor of painting. Installation Strategy: The gallery space was filled with fifty hand-stained wooden bar stools, creating a dense, "oceanic" environment that visitors had to navigate, which served both as a way to display art and to fill the small space. Mass-Produced Imagery (Drawings): In addition to the paintings, the show featured 800 small, hand-drawn, "Expressionist" style depictions of faces on file cards that lined the walls, reflecting a theme of rapid, automatic production. Theme of Re-production: According to the gallery press materials, the exhibition explored the idea that "one painting always hides another" by re-using materials and focusing on the detritus of the creative process. The 2005 show was reviewed by the art critic Roberta Smith (no relation, apparently) of The New York Times as a "bristling Expressionist profusion" and part of a series of shows where Smith acted as both a "protean creator and Warholian machine" who likes to highlight the conventions of the gallery setting More about the elusive and conceptual "Reena Spaulings" Fine Art: Founded in 2004 by John Kelsey and Emily Sundblad, Reena Spaulings gallery was a central hub for the neighborhood's emerging art scene. Reena Spaulings is a collective project in the medium of a novel, an artist persona, and an institutional art-gallery active from 2005 to the present in New York City. The Gallery's Co-founders and Co-Directors include Carissa Rodriguez, John Kelsey and Emily Sundblad. The Reena Spaulings novel and persona remains an anonymous collective organization. The Spaulings initiative speaks to ideas of collectivity, anonymity, and artistic categorization through literature and artistic production. Reena Spaulings is a branch of the Bernadette Corporation, also based in New York City. (The Bernadette Corporation is a New York–based collective founded in 1994, working across art, fashion, film, and publishing. Originally formed by Bernadette Van-Huy, Sonny Pak, and Thuy Pham, the group’s current configuration—Van-Huy, John Kelsey, Jim Fletcher, and Antek Walczak—reflects a practice defined by shifting authorship and long-term collaboration. Over the past three decades, its members have explored processes of production while subverting the logics of cultural consumption through a distinctly (and playfully facetious) anti-corporate spirit.) More about Josh Smith In announcing its representation of Josh Smith in 2017, here's what Zwirner Gallery said about him: Smith is a New York-based painter who also works with collage, sculpture, printmaking, and books. He first became known in the early 2000s for a series of canvases depicting his own name, a motif that allowed him to experiment freely with abstraction and figuration and the expressive possibilities of painting. His work has since given way to monochromes, gestural abstractions, and varied imagery, including leaves, fish, skeletons, sunsets, and palm trees that the artist has explored in series. Smith’s work engages in a celebratory and prolific process of experimentation and refinement—upending the conventions of painting while simultaneously commanding a deep awareness of its history. The artist has noted, "I make art for myself, to see what it will look like. I also effectively let viewers, myself included, take or leave what they want. The message is indefinable, but the gist of it is; we are alive, and here together….Here is a group of painted poems, if you like…take a look and absorb what you want from them." As stated by David Zwirner, "I have been following Josh’s work for some time and look forward to presenting it at the gallery. A true ‘artist’s artist,’ his work across different media conveys a playful reverence for painting, dynamically asserting its continued relevance. It’s exciting to think about his work in dialogue with the other artists we represent." American artist Josh Smith was born in 1976 in Okinawa, Japan. Smith’s father was in the U.S. Army, and his family moved frequently, eventually settling in East Tennessee, where the artist mostly grew up. His work has been presented in numerous solo exhibitions in the United States and abroad, including at the Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, Germany (2016); Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma, Rome (2015); the Zabludowicz Collection, London (2013); The Brant Foundation Art Study Center, Greenwich, Connecticut (2011); Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, Geneva (2009); De Hallen Haarlem, Haarlem, The Netherlands (2009-2010); Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien (mumok), Vienna (2008); and SculptureCenter, Long Island City, New York (2004). Smith’s work has also been included in important group exhibitions such as Painting 2.0: Expression in the Information Age, which opened at the Museum Brandhorst, Munich, and subsequently traveled to the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien (mumok), Vienna (2015-2016); The Forever Now: Contemporary Painting in an Atemporal World, The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2014-2015); The Painting Factory...

In this contemporary landscape in sumi ink on Mylar, trees in a peaceful forest scene are intricately detailed, beautifully capturing the serenity of a walk in the woods. This ink d...

Complete title: La Transformación del Deseo - Estoy Dentro de Alegría (The Transformation of Desire - I am Inside of Happiness) Mari Ito was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1980. She major...

SAKURA Front 2, unique photograph on silk with sumi ink brushwork Chaco Terada, originally from Japan, was trained at a young age in the art of cal...

"Delivered and Discarded (negatives) #4" is an original wall-hanging piece by Yoonmi Nam. This piece is made from the flattening out packing boxes that the artist traces to depict t...

Cricket on Branch - 2nd Generation Lingnan School Bird and Flower Painting Beautifully executed painting of a cricket on a branch by Zhao Shao'ang 趙少昂 (Chinese b. 1905 d. 1998.) Thi...

A small octopus is inked in the Japanese style of Gyo-Taku print making over an illustrated diagram of the human brain. Using sumi ink to "print" the octopus, the artist then embell...

"Unfolding #3" is an original piece by Yoonmi Nam made from pressure printed monotypes featuring layers of unfolded package outlines, creating dimension and abstraction. This piece m...

"Delivered and Discarded (positives) #3" is an original wall-hanging piece by Yoonmi Nam. This piece is made from the flattening out packing boxes that the artist traces to depict t...

This abstract drawing titled "Around" is an original artwork by Jason Andrew Turner made of sumi ink, gouache, and copic ink on paper. The artist incorporates techniques of painting...

Mari Ito was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1980. She majored in Nihonga, Japanese-style painting made with traditional practices, techniques and materials. She moved to Barcelona (Spain) i...