Measure

Shigeru Izumi

In 1973 Shigeru Izumi had been living in the United States for over a decade, having moved to New York from Japan to teach at the Pratt Graphic Art Center. Having emerged from the Modernist movements of Japan - cofounding the Democratic Artists Association with artists Ei-Kyu (Ei-Q), Hosoe Eiko, and Yoshio Hayakawa - his work showed the hallmarks of abstract expressionsm in lithography and intaglio printmaking, focusing on the non-representational. Soon, however, he found himself in the epicenter of the Pop Art movement. Ever the artistic chameleon, his work began to evolve into vibrant, geometric compositions that shed organic forms to focus on color and hard lines.

"Measure", in its ghostly, delicate simplicity, proves to be a crux of transition for Izumi. The embossed form of a metric ruler features meaurments inked in black-to-red fade, presented alone on a field of white. Printed up-side down, it acts as a curious semi-colon in the paragraph of his experimental career, inviting the viewer to wonder what will come next.