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Recalling wide open spaces

Tomoko Ogoshi's solo at Zainul gallery
13 August 2004, 18:00 PM
LIFESTYLE
By Fayza Haq
13 August 2004, 18:00 PM
Like a Cancer, lithograph
Tomoko Ogoshi, who had her recent exhibition of prints at the Zainul Gallery, like most printmakers was once confined to paintings but moved over to print making when she realised that she could best express herself in prints. Tomoko is now an assistant lecturer in the Joshibi University of Art and Design. The teachers who guided her through her career as a student included Kiyomi Kato. In the west she names San Francis as the source of inspiration. In her childhood she traveled to London, Spain and China, and the vast expanses that she came across there still linger in her memory and affect her work. She went to school in London for a shot period, and this she said, had a very relaxed atmosphere. She went to China after her master's degree, and there the Great Wall had overwhelmed her. In Spain, the great castle's filled her with great wonder. The wide open spaces that she accosted during her travels still influences her work, which she had brought to Bangladesh.

Tomoko was lucky to have her family support in her choice of a career, and in fact, her mother guided her with her drawing and colouring when she was a girl. In her work, Tomoko says, she brings in her own feelings and those of others around her. What she presents, in particular, is touch of the breeze, which we cannot see but can only feel, and which delights our mind and our senses.

As she goes about her work, Tomoko takes a readymade aluminium plate on which she works with oil colour pencils. After that she gives the metal plate a water-colour wash. Next she gives her work a coating of Arabic gum. Then, with a roller she applies colours. The press machine then absorbs the colour on the paper. If she wants an impression of four colours she would have to use four plates. Since she teaches at the university she can avail of the facility of the university printing machine and so has no problems in doing even large prints. Before she goes about the actual work she makes a sketch for it and then she works on the image on the metal plate. She says that she does not force any image or colour to appear but works on what comes from within her.

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Tomoko finds a good response to her work in her own country. She recently got the Yamaguchi Gen Newcomer Award at the 72nd exhibition of the Japanese Print Association at the age of 26. She hopes to have more achievement in future. The exhibit at Dhaka too has had a warm response. As an artist she has faced no difficulty. On the other hand, her work has got her in contact with many interesting people which has coloured her life. As for her prints, which were exhibited, she made them according to the measurements that her Bangladeshi mentor, GS Kabir, gave and had them flown. The 22 frames of metal and wood were waiting for her in Dhaka beforehand. These frames are used repeatedly as other artists come from Japan, under GS Kabir's guidance.

When she had a joint exhibit at Japan with two other colleagues, the person in charge of the Bangladeshi section in Chua Gallery, liked her work and invited her to come to Bangladesh. She says that her impression of Bangladesh has certainly changed in coming here. She finds the people energetic and communicative, characteristics which she couldn't have known just being in Japan. She found the women's traditional dress very aesthetic and enjoyed the food too.