Yoshiaki Taguchi
Born 1958, Tokyo Prefecture
This exhibition is the place where the visions of 20 artists burst forth as they each uniquely express their style on the subject of Pokémon. But this exciting mission made Yoshiaki Taguchi deeply consider this. “What direction should I go with this subject?” says Taguchi, wondering how he could capture the humor of a Pokémon Battle. His art medium (or type, to use the Pokémon term), is urushi lacquer. The techniques that make the most effective use of urushi ’s fascination are kyushitsu , applying lacquer to a vessel, and maki-e and raden , sprinkled pictures and mother- of- pearl inlay. The word “kyu” by itself can mean applying urushi . Maki-e is a decoration technique in which a design is drawn in urushi on the surface of a vessel or other work and metallic powder is placed in a tube and sprinkled on it, so that it attaches to the still-moist urushi . It was Moltres that was chosen as the motif for the natsume or jujube-shaped tea container. Taguchi sprinkled gold powder on the main color of the body and aluminum powder, colored with vermillion, to the head and the flames rising from the head and wings. The lines drawn with the maki-e brush are not visible directly; it is “a fight in earnest, line by line.” That is a phrase Taguchi learned from his father, Yoshikuni Taguchi who was designated a “Living National Treasure” for maki-e , and which he will never forget.
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