Lisa Takahashi, 'Sleepless Under Moonlight'

In my current work I’m interested in using lo-fi printing techniques to interpret landscapes. I work with handmade Japanese Kitakata paper because it is incredibly receptive to ink, and by lightly inking surfaces such as paper stencils, card and folded newspaper I can easily take prints from them, applying pressure with the side of my hand or my fingernails. This highly tactile process is unpredictable and playful; I see it as painting with paper instead of brushes. I’m interested in bold shapes and intriguing light effects at different times of day and use these as a starting point from which to abstract and reinvent the images I work with. I usually work from photos but often the final image is far removed from the reference material; the process embarks on its own journey to a point of resolution. The most successful images are the ones that surprise me or reveal something unexpected in the process of making them.

Lisa Takahashi (b.1981) is a British-Japanese artist based in Somerset. Her monoprints interpret the shapes and textures the artist sees in familiar scenes, such as landscapes and interiors. She graduated from Middlesex University with a Fine Art Degree in 2005 and has explored image making through painting and printmaking techniques ever since.