"To Challenge the Gods"
Carved/ Printed by: Brandon Johnson
In 2020, the British Museum came into possession of a collection of over 100 unpublished Hokusai designs for a encyclopedia entitled, “The Great Picture Book of Everything.” For what reason this book never came to be will remain a mystery for now, but what it left us with is worth its wait in gold for printmakers.
The original plan appears to have had the encyclopedia divided into several sections talking several ideas, “To Challenge the Gods,” is based in Chinese Folklore. In brief the story goes:
“When the ten suns of mythology all appeared in the sky together to play one day, Emperor Yao charged his general Hours Yi, a great archer, to correct the problem. Yi originally sought to barter with the suns to have them return to their celestial orbits, however upon coming to an impasse, Yi shot nine suns out of the sky one by one, leaving just the last one for the benefit of mankind.”
The title works two fold, in the literal it is the story of a mortal conquering celestial beings, and in the abstract myself as a craftsmen challenging the proverbial god of ukiyo-e, Hokusai. One of the first prints I ever carved was a design of a fox by Hokusai, so it seemed only fitting to test how far I have come with one of his more difficult designs. I strove to keep much of the looser brushwork of the original design. I did not want to try to clean up to many of the lines, as I find that there is a great deal of life in the rough brush strokes.
I hope you all will enjoy this print for many years to come!
Carved on 4 block faces: One key block and three color blocks
Printing impressions: four
Carved/ Printed by: Brandon Johnson
In 2020, the British Museum came into possession of a collection of over 100 unpublished Hokusai designs for a encyclopedia entitled, “The Great Picture Book of Everything.” For what reason this book never came to be will remain a mystery for now, but what it left us with is worth its wait in gold for printmakers.
The original plan appears to have had the encyclopedia divided into several sections talking several ideas, “To Challenge the Gods,” is based in Chinese Folklore. In brief the story goes:
“When the ten suns of mythology all appeared in the sky together to play one day, Emperor Yao charged his general Hours Yi, a great archer, to correct the problem. Yi originally sought to barter with the suns to have them return to their celestial orbits, however upon coming to an impasse, Yi shot nine suns out of the sky one by one, leaving just the last one for the benefit of mankind.”
The title works two fold, in the literal it is the story of a mortal conquering celestial beings, and in the abstract myself as a craftsmen challenging the proverbial god of ukiyo-e, Hokusai. One of the first prints I ever carved was a design of a fox by Hokusai, so it seemed only fitting to test how far I have come with one of his more difficult designs. I strove to keep much of the looser brushwork of the original design. I did not want to try to clean up to many of the lines, as I find that there is a great deal of life in the rough brush strokes.
I hope you all will enjoy this print for many years to come!
Carved on 4 block faces: One key block and three color blocks
Printing impressions: four
Carved/ Printed by: Brandon Johnson
In 2020, the British Museum came into possession of a collection of over 100 unpublished Hokusai designs for a encyclopedia entitled, “The Great Picture Book of Everything.” For what reason this book never came to be will remain a mystery for now, but what it left us with is worth its wait in gold for printmakers.
The original plan appears to have had the encyclopedia divided into several sections talking several ideas, “To Challenge the Gods,” is based in Chinese Folklore. In brief the story goes:
“When the ten suns of mythology all appeared in the sky together to play one day, Emperor Yao charged his general Hours Yi, a great archer, to correct the problem. Yi originally sought to barter with the suns to have them return to their celestial orbits, however upon coming to an impasse, Yi shot nine suns out of the sky one by one, leaving just the last one for the benefit of mankind.”
The title works two fold, in the literal it is the story of a mortal conquering celestial beings, and in the abstract myself as a craftsmen challenging the proverbial god of ukiyo-e, Hokusai. One of the first prints I ever carved was a design of a fox by Hokusai, so it seemed only fitting to test how far I have come with one of his more difficult designs. I strove to keep much of the looser brushwork of the original design. I did not want to try to clean up to many of the lines, as I find that there is a great deal of life in the rough brush strokes.
I hope you all will enjoy this print for many years to come!
Carved on 4 block faces: One key block and three color blocks
Printing impressions: four