Announcement of prize-winning works 2023

Greetings

This year marks the 6th edition of the Awagami International Mini-Print Exhibition (AIMPE).

It seems like only recently that we were able to successfully hold the 2021exhibition despite the pandemic – where fortunately the number of entries grew. We were indeed able to mount a successful show while making some innovations in the jurying process and awards ceremony along the way.

For this year’s AIMP ’23, we received a total of 1,587 prints from over 1,000 artists and are pleased to also add our first international juror, Professor Tomas Vu of Columbia University, NY to serve on the judging panel. Although we started AIMPE with the intention of holding it just five times, the show’s continuous growth has humbled us; giving our staff motivation to carry on with AIMPE well into the future.

One requirement of AIMPE is that all works must be printed on Japanese washi paper. It is our hope that through this exhibition and its related events, we may introduce Awagami washi (and traditional Japanese washi culture in general) to a wider global community of artists.
We are very pleased to exhibit all 1,587 prints entered in this year’s show. With so many inspirational prints, we are certain to present visitors with a unique and far-reaching global survey of contemporary printmaking.

We look forward to welcoming many guests to AIMPE ’23 here in Tokushima and would once again, like to cordially thank each artist for your participation and support of traditional Japanese washi.

Yoichi Fujimori
President, Awagami Factory

 

Comments on the Judging  Keisei KOBAYASI

The Awagami International Miniprint Exhibition “AIMPE ‘23” is now in its 6th iteration. Despite the stipulation that prints need to be on washi paper, the number of entries from overseas exceeded those from Japan, which is surprising and most certainly a direct result of Awagami Factory’s continued efforts to promote washi internationally.

Now, on to the jurying:

In 2021, jurying was conducted online due to the pandemic, and I cannot deny feeling a bit of hesitation, but this year's jurying was a full-fledged affair with all seven jurors physically present to conduct the multi-round jurying process (incl. Professor Vu from Columbia University New York).
Of the nearly 1,600 entries, 240 were selected in the first round of jurying, then narrowed down to 64 prints in the second round and lastly 21 works were selected as prize winners (and 41 as honorary mentions). The jurying was very strict and focused, with all entries given fair and equal exposure to the jurying panel.

Recently due to globalism and the connected world we all live in, there is a “graying” of aesthetic borders with noticeably less difference in artworks from abroad vs. Japan. Perhaps I feel a touch of sentimentality towards the past when artworks more often reflected national sentiments and/or local aesthetics and characteristics. That being said however, the quality of the AIMPE works continues to improve and expand in both scope & technique, which is most exciting.

We are pleased to present Canadian artist, Ms. Vanessa Hall-Patch with the AIMPE ’23 Grand Prize for her print "Cabin Cutout – Farmland II”. Despite being the smallest image of all entries, the work makes full use of various printmaking techniques such as etching, silkscreen, and photoengraving. The print is not merely a landscape but is rich in poetic sentiment and nostalgia (perhaps due to the sensitivity cultivated in Canada's climate?).

The AIMPE ’23 Runner-up prize has been awarded to Mr. Yuichiro Ishibashi for his work entitled "Daybreak"; an enjoyable print that effectively uses spatial expression to evoke the impression of a much larger scaled work.

What was pleasing about this year's jurying was the fact that there was a healthy mix of both Intentional and Japanese artists reaching the very final stage of the jurying process and that the awards were selected without any prior knowledge of artists nationality. We are looking forward to future iterations of AIMPE where we hope to welcome even more artists from Japan and abroad to participate in such an impressive survey of contemporary printmaking.

 

Comments on the Judging  Tomas Vu

This year, I was honored to join the competition's jury panel for the 6th installment of the Awagami International Miniprint Exhibition (A.I.M.P.E.). With over 1,500 entries, seeing the breadth of techniques and diversity of approaches with this year's participating artists was wonderful. Despite the ongoing parameters of the competition, that prints must be made using A4-sized washi paper, no two works bore similarities. As the first international juror, joining the seven other esteemed panelists, it was also exciting to see the increasing number of entries from abroad. A.I.M.P.E. has become a global competition, interconnecting printmakers worldwide while still maintaining the throughline of Japanese craftsmanship and washi paper.
The geographical range of award winners reflected the diversity of contemporary printmaking perspectives, which included artists from Asia, the Americas, and Europe, and the first international Grand Prize winner, Vanessa Hall-Patch, from Canada. Hall-Patch's piece, Cabin Cutout - Farmland II, was a surprising entry. Compared to other submissions, the printed surface area was very small, approximately 2 x 4 inches within the A4 sheet. However, within this miniature area, the print packs a total vision. Truly remarkable and impeccably printed, the piece is laden with various techniques and displays outstanding detail. It was a refreshing entry, and the combination of digital print with etching and screenprint was a lovely mixture of new and traditional technology. Despite the strong competition, we ultimately awarded the prize to this work as it had the best of both worlds, pushing the boundaries of printmaking into the future.

The Runner-up Prize was given to Ishibashi Yuichiro's Day Break. This woodcut embodied the definition of flawless print application. The ink on the surface of the washi paper was breathtaking, especially with the exciting interplay between abstraction and representation. Close runners-up, all five Excellence Prize-winning prints displayed exquisite tactile qualities and the artists' masterful technical abilities. Of these, the three woodcuts by Muto Shogo, Lee Wonsuk, and Honda Masaya reveal the endless creative possibilities of a single method. Shogo and Wonsuk's prints presented an intriguing dialogue with abstraction, foregrounding the role of color as an essential component of composition. In contrast, Honda Masaya's woodcut going out weaves together a narrative, an intricately rendered figure tying a shoelace foregrounding the otherwise angular forms. The other two winners of this category, Agata Polina Perzy ska, and Uchikoba Eiko, represent the extensive possibilities of intaglio. Eiko's Strain One's Ears exemplifies this medium's wide range of tonalities, invoking a fantastic contrast of light and shadow. Breathe by Agata Paulina Perzy ska may initially seem unostentatious. Still, upon a closer look, it is a work of pure beauty, the linework making it one of the most subtle, delicate, and lovely prints we juried—a simple yet elegant piece.
As with the previous two competitions, we also considered digital prints as a new category for the three Awagami Factory Prizes. This is a vital category, as we find ever-increasing innovations within the craft. Nakayama Tomoko, Andres Felipe Orozco, and Agata Dworzk Subocz all successfully engaged with the technical aspect of technology while simultaneously embedding this theme within the subject matter itself, making for poignant works about our modern experience.

For my personal jury pick, I selected Okuyama Yoshiko's woodcut茫栗. It is not a work I would usually choose, but I loved the combination of humor with intense skillfulness. The two vignettes comprising this print, a solitary flamingo and a monkey amidst a plate of chestnuts, depict a great range of textures and wood grain. Furthermore, the reduction of the background to reveal only a subtle hint of wood grain was a detail that I found wonderfully unique to this print.

It was a pleasure to judge alongside Keisei Kobayashi, Mitsuru Hiraki, Hideki Kimura, Toshio Takeuchi, Takashi Harai, Kasai Hideaki, and Yoichi Fujimori, who are all experts in the field. Each panelist brought their expertise into the mix, and coming from the United States was an interesting process for me, as I have a slightly different perspective. Furthermore, as this was a new experience for me, it was a breath of fresh air as A.I.M.P.E. applies one of the most efficient and fairest judging methods I have taken part in. Initially, we only look at the images rather than the name of the work or who the artist is and where they are from. This initial round seeks to remove any bias associated with such external information. Once we completed the difficult task of narrowing down the entries, the work was assessed holistically, with the title and printmaking techniques revealed. This section of deliberation revealed many pleasant surprises. It must be emphasized that there was such a plethora of beautiful, highly technical, and innovative prints from around the world that even the honorable mention and semi-finalists, let alone the final prize-winners, were challenging to decide.

 

A.I.M.P.E '23 Walkthrough on YouTube

Gallrry Talk 10/7 on YouTube

Semi-finalists

 

Honorable Mention