Tetsuya Noda
Tetsuya Noda
(b. 1940, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan; lives and works in Kashiwa, Japan)
Diary.
1973–2019
Woodblock and screenprint on Japanese paper, dimensions variable
Courtesy of the artist
Tetsuya Noda is one of the most important living contemporary artists in Japan and is often considered the most important. Best known as a printmaker, he produces work that is much more complex and multi-layered than it may seem. Since 1968, he has been writing his own visual biography in the series Diary, which explores everyday objects taken out of context. These visually impeccable works are screenprints produced on handmade Washi paper using a mid-20th century mimeograph machine. Each work in this series of over 500 is a rare type of contemporary still life, capturing stories that convey a sense of the time and make us reflect on the finite nature of every moment as it irreversibly becomes history.
Noda’s visual commentary on the world that surrounds him—a practice he started as a child—particularly resonates with the present moment and the global fascination with presenting one’s life on social media. His project, however, has no connotations of judgment: his goal does not involve a glamorized or dramatic presentation of his life. Along with people (Noda’s children and other relatives), the artist’s objects of interest include social and political events and the objects that make up his daily life, such as the fruit that he lovingly grows in his garden. The artist’s continuous labor in his garden is also included in the process of making the work, in the same way as the manipulations of the image that follow.
АМ