An Interview with Toru Sugita
The current Caffe Museo exhibition features black-and-white etchings and
aquatints of familiar Bay Area sites by artist Toru Sugita. Originally from Japan, Sugita has
distinguished himself in the graphic art technique famously employed by Goya. Here he is in conversation with Maria Medua of the Gallery. His work is on view at the Caffe Museo at the Main Museum thru April 17.
Toru Sugita, Curving Street, 2000
Artists Gallery Toru, first I
want to congratulate you on this body of work. I have been admiring your black-and-white etchings for several years now. I have to confess a real love for the
process – the rich black ink on the white paper – I suppose my love of printed
books has something to do with it. Do you feel the process is more precious
given the rise of digital media and output?
Toru Sugita For me intaglio print
including etching is very 3-dimentional process. The matrix (etched copper
plate) has various grooves and surface texture. Depth of groove and levels of texture
determine the thickness of ink when printed. An intaglio print holds various
thickness of ink on paper, which is not the case of digital print such as
inkjet and laser. It is almost sculpture. My interest towards space and
architecture is constantly fed by this aspect of intaglio printmaking.
Artists Gallery Can you
briefly explain the etching process and why it continues to appeal to fine
artist despite the availability of faster easier ways to make multiple images?
Toru Sugita Etching
was invented in 16th century as a means of putting designs on armor, and then
brought to printmaking process. More than metal engraving, etching can create
the appearance of a spontaneous sketch or a laborious study. First, metal is
covered with asphalt ground. When the artist scratches lines by needles, ground
gets removed and the metal surface gets exposed to etchant bath. Etchant bites
the metal and makes a crease, which can hold ink to print. The longer the metal
gets exposed, the deeper the crease gets bitten, which creates darker lines
when printed. Artists like Rembrandt exploited this medium, using lines to make
various tones of light and dark. This medium became popular among artists to
depict deep space in rise of atmospheric perspective.
The process of printmaking is
physically satisfying to artists.
Dealing with physicality of material feeds to creativity. One of my
students of this semester is an established graphic designer. He is from Fine
Arts background and has been working in graphic design field. He decided to
take my etching class because his work is becoming less physical every year and
felt something missing.
The same reason painters paint, printmakers
make prints from their creativity. Then why some artists choose printmaking,
rather than painting? Printmaking is a process oriented medium. Artist has to
plan few steps ahead for any result, rather than direct paint on canvas or draw
on paper. In a way this is close to farming or cooking. If you are such person,
printmaking is more exciting and enjoyable. There are other reasons artist
choose printmaking media. Some artists choose because of multiplicity of
printed image. Some artists choose printmaking for love of paper. Some likes
shared studio environment. Where print studio exists, there is always some
society. Skills and socialism printmaking provides is very important for
America for future (that is what I insist to college administrators).
For me, printmaking process is reminiscent of the
relationship between light and shadow. In the process of printmaking there is a
plate, but the plate itself is not the artwork. The print that is generated is
a secondary image – like a shadow.
Artists Gallery Why do you
choose to work in black and white?
Toru Sugita Etching and aquatint help me
express my interest towards light and shadow by using rich tones of black and
white. The graphic nature of black and white leads me to lines and shapes found
in architectural elements. Once I eliminated color from my work, I found myself
drawn to the exploration of space itself. My work became about the physicality
of three dimensional space.
Artists Gallery You’ve chosen San Francisco as your subject
matter – what, if anything, makes this city visually distinct?
Toru Sugita The city is constructed on such a unique
geological environment. Houses are built on hilly streets by ocean. Angular
lines contrast vertical and horizontal lines. This becomes emphasized when
strong clear sunlight hits the city, casting shadows of the architecture as
extension of them. I find myself in the spaces enjoying architecture
delineated by sunlight. Buildings and their shadows are layered and blended
together creating momentary beauty of colors and shapes.
The city of San Francisco has been constantly
transforming throughout history. When I moved from my native Japan to San
Francisco in 1990, I witnessed the booming economy of the mid-1990s. It was
marked by a flurry of new constructions replacing older buildings and older
styles of architecture. The industrial part of the city is now half gone and
fewer old buildings remain. These old buildings look suspended between
ideology, history, and the future, while the cityscape of the San Francisco Bay
Area constantly changes under development. My attachment to the ephemeral
quality of light and shadow is seen with the transiency of old architectural
sites and ever changing space.
Toru Sugita, A Street From Bernal Heights, 2000
Artists Gallery We will be featuring you work in 2013. Are you going to work on similar themes?
Toru Sugita For Caffe Museo exhibit, I focused on large scale black and white etching of Bay Area Shapes. For Artists Gallery show in 2013, I would like not to limit myself to Bay Area theme. I would like to include other parts of US and world such as Japan. Also, I have been working on other print media and techniques such as wood engraving, wood block, and color etching. I would like to seek the possibility to include them as well.
