Tamatori 5

Years ago I visited an exhibition in the Picasso Museum of Barcelona. That exhibit highlighted the relation between Picasso and the Shunga, the erotic Japanese prints.
One of the best known Shunga by Hokusai is "Ama to tako" (Diver and Octopus), undoubtedly a parody of the sacred tale of Taishokan (the legend of Tamatori, the diver girl).
In this series of drawings I have to use that legend as a structure to place the mix of recurring influences in my work: European avantgardes between wars, the XIXth century scientific drawings of molluscs, shells and fishes by Ernst Haeckel and the Japanese prints of the "floating world".

All of these subjects meet to build underwater images in the graph paper, a flatland where time is flexible and that encounters are possible. The palette is restricted: graphite, black ink and red gouache.

This artwork was exhibited in a solo show at PULSE NY art fair in 2010.