Woodblock print NEKOSHINBUN（cat newspaper）

Concept

　Fuhito Fujimiya's woodblock prints inherit the flatness of traditional Japanese ukiyoe prints and the lineage of paintings by Katsushika Hokusai, Kitagawa Utamaro, and Utagawa Hiroshige, who expressed the outlines of the objects depicted in their line drawings, and also adopt the same method of self-printing that appeared around the end of the Meiji period (1904), which established the production of works as expression by the artist alone. By adopting the same production method as creative print artists such as Yamamoto Ting, Munakata Shiko, and Kawakami Sumio, whose works were established as expression by the artist alone, Fujimiya's woodblock prints have completely acquired an artistic quality. In addition, Fumio Fujimiya's poetic story cartoons, produced in woodblock prints through a series of multiple prints, have also influenced his woodblock prints. That is, the influence of the panel drawings used to illustrate the manga's narrative has influenced the woodblock prints in ways that would not have been conventionally depicted in a framed pictorial work. The intentional drawing of thick lines and the use of woodblock and Japanese paper create blurring, blotting, and shading of ink, and the thick line drawings eventually create the impression of a surface from the lines and give shape to a figure, which forms the main body of artistry in FUJIMIYA's woodblock prints. The anthropomorphic cat gives the viewer a quiet poetic feeling and helps to evoke warm emotions. It should not be forgotten that the basis of Fujimiya's woodblock prints is the poetic sentiment of Edvard Munch, Amédio Modigliani, and Maurice Utrillo, as well as impressionist painters such as Claude Monet.