NISHMURA Ryo produces print works that primarily utilize the drypoint technique, in which the “lines” of the image are etched directly onto the printing plate. Nishimura, who has always enjoyed taking walks through nature, set off several times during his stay to explore the rich natural beauty of Aomori with camera and sketchbook in hand. Natural conditions are created from moment to moment by geography, climate, and other factors, constantly changing in innumerable ways. Nishimura’s “lines” seek to capture such moments, to extract these changes in the scenery.
　　　Nishimura traces these flows of nature, of mountain streams and trees, on plastic plates, using the sensations gained from his sketches as a basis, and his photographs as guides. The lines produced by the needle, router, or occasionally impact driver, reflect his moment-by-moment selections and their physical rhythms – what he calls his “measuring” of nature. In this way, Nishimura connects back through the endless flow of time, to the lives, the minute pulses, that can be felt in this constantly-changing nature.
　　　Eternal Capsule 3 depicts fallen trees in Oirase Gorge, while the series “Travel to my life” captures the surfaces of the water as Nishimura walked down the 14-km-long length of a mountain stream (Additional works will be added during the exhibition, with a planned total of four works). Printed on one of the world’s largest copperplate presses at ACAC, these works display the unique blurring effects of drypoint, which imparts a certain unpredictability to the “lines.” The eternal flows of nature and time, their diversity and complexity, beckon the viewer like lights and shadows.

Text: KEINO Yuka (ACAC)
Translator: Ethan SAMES