50 The tide

The tide was the first work after his overseas travels. He visited Taiwan, where the aboriginal people aroused his interest, the previous year of this production. What inspired him to produce the screen. Concrete motifs aren’t obvious. Here he changed his former style of repeating abstract patterns. He didn’t repeat patterns. He used four stencils to dye the four panels and combined them into one work. The designs were abstract. His handwriting gave power to the vertical lines. The balance of lines and colors unify the four panels successfully. Contrary to the other screens whose backs were panel resist dyed, the back of this Ushio screen was stencil dyed. The method of using the shape cut out and the remaining part in turn to dye four panels gives the work the distinctive taste of stencil dyeing. This attempt triggered him to produce works using large stencils.