Chiharu Shiota - Red Lines

Red Lines is one of the three limited edition series Connected to the Universe by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota. These are the artist’s first woodcut prints, following her large-scale installation art using red or black threads. The universe inside and around us is connected with her red threads as Red Waves, Red Lines, and Red Circles. The red threads of memory woven by Shiota are fully expressed in this work with soft yet vivid colors unique to woodcut printing.

The woodcuts are printed using hard woodblock made of mountain cherry laid on Japanese handmade washi paper. The paper is made from the bark of different varieties of Mulberry bushes in a method that is over 2000 years old. Thanks to this technique, Buddhist texts dating back thousands of years have been preserved. It is a rather high quality paper, previously used to make balloons, clothes, lampshades and much more. However, due to its production being so laborious, it is rarely used today, and can almost only be seen in art. Chiharu Shiota's unique bright red color is born from embedding particles of pigment in the fibers of washi paper using the baren rubbing pad.

The limited edition prints are now exclusively sold in our Design Shop as part of the new exhibition by Chiharu Shiota: The Unsettled Soul at Kunsthalle Praha.

Product information

Artists: Chiharu Shiota
Printing technique: woodcut
Edition: 120 pieces
Paper: Echizen Kizuki Hosho Washi (produced by National Living Treasure, Ichibei Iwano)
Size: 41 × 27 cm
Production: The Adachi Institute of Woodcut Prints

Chiharu Shiota

Chiharu Shiota was born in Osaka, Japan (1972), lives and works in Berlin. In 2008, she received the Art Encouragement Prize from the Japanese Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Her exhibitions across the world include Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2023); Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2019); Gropius Bau, Berlin (2019); Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (2018); Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK (2018); Power Station of Art, Shanghai (2017); K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf (2015); Smithsonian Institution Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, D.C. (2014); the Museum of Art, Kochi (2013); and the National Museum of Art, Osaka (2008), among others. She has also participated in numerous international exhibitions such as Oku-Noto International Art Festival (2017), Sydney Biennale (2016), Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale (2009) and Yokohama Triennale (2001). In 2015, Shiota was selected to represent Japan at the 56th Venice Biennale.