Paul Binnie

Scottish, b. 1967

Ushiwakamaru and Benkei (darker palette)
(Ushiwakamaru to Benkei)

signed in silver kanji, Bin-ni, with artist's karazuri (embossed) seal Binnie, the title on the left margin also embossed, and sealed again on the bottom margin, Binnie, numbered and signed in pencil, A/P V, Paul Binnie, 2016

dai oban tate-e 15 7/8 by 10 3/4 in., 40.3 by 27.2 cm

This design is one of two original works commissioned by the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College in Massachusetts, Unimaginable by One Mind Alone, organized by Bradley M. Bailey, currently the Associate Curator of Asian art of the Ackland Museum of Art in North Carolina. The exhibition asked five artists to produce a work of art which interacted with works from the William Green Collection of Japanese prints. This artist's proof is a variant featuring a dark teal background instead of the brighter blue and white background of his numbered impressions.

Ushiwakamaru and Benkei presents a tattoo design inspired by an Utagawa school print from the Green collection of male legs only- the lower half of a design separated from the upper half which would have more clearly define the composition. The replacement upper half designed by Binnie is adapted to the tattoo format, and the model echoes the design by holding a short sword in a similar pose to Ushiwakamaru in the tattoo.

Reference:
Unimaginable by One Mind Alone: Exquisite Corpses from the William Green Collection of Japanese Prints, Mead Art Museum at Amherst College in Massachusetts, on view April 14 - July 24, 2016.

(inv. no. C-1764)

price: $750