The Tiny Gardens by Hattori Nanako:
Born and raised in Tokyo, Hattori Nanako has been drawing since her childhood. While attending Musashino Art University, she began focusing on print art, eventually working as a designer for several companies after graduating in 1995. By 2011, dissatisfied with her career, Hattori decided to take a chance as a freelance graphic designer. She began to experiment again making art, primarily wood-block prints.
Influenced by the print works of Minami Keiko and Seimiya Naobumi, Hattori creates similarly distilled scenes. But within her worlds, surreality is a centerpiece. A rainbow of color gusts like wind and streams into the print to shape oddly recognizable forms. Hattori’s work recalls the mystical nature of the most enamoring science fiction, and the writings of Alice Bradley Sheldon (James Tiptree, Jr.), Kurt Vonnegut, and Kyodomari Aran among others are inspirations for her work. Through the sliver of a door, a strange realm teems with vibrant colors, charming in their simplicity. Rather than the trudge of daily life, the never-before is an enchanting force. It is natural to want to explore. Hattori’s wood-block prints offer glimpses of a vivid imagination innocently opened, an alluring story waiting to be told.
The Picture Book Exhibition Participating Artists:
Atamawamikan
Eri Nijitane
Etsuwo Matsumoto
Fuki
Fumi Kayama
Haru Nodoka
Houko Kuribayashi
K.Kikiki
Kohana
Kuma & Miyo
KUROE
OTAYOKO
Rani Maura
Reopokkul
Sakura Yamaniwa
Sorausagi Haru
TASUKU
Tsugumi Mimi
Tsukamaiko