Symmetrical Landscape, A

Hodaka Yoshida

In his later career Yoshida took an interest in Op art and Surrealism, breaking away from the traditional works he was immersed in as part of the Yoshida artist family and which he himself had spent years exploring. By the 1970s his Japanese folk art-inspired works, primarily woodcut compositions in bold, flat shapes with minimal detail, made way for highly detailed, multi-technique prints that employed photo transfer and carefully wrought gradient colors. In “Symmetrical Landscape A” his foray into the eerie, alien world of mirrored imagery has reached the peak of its evolution.

A residential street presents cold and empty, yet the central house is flanked by oversized roses, as two roosters - or the same rooster seen in two different realities - face off in the foreground. The only aspect of the image that remains unique and without repetition is the small figure emerging from the central house. Defying the idea of replication, she stands slightly askew, alone, defiant, anchoring the composition.