21st Century Rimpa Posters “Jellyfish Painting”

A poster created for the 350th exhibition at Ginza Graphic Gallery: “21st Century Rimpa Posters.”

The Rimpa school emerged in early Edo-period Kyoto and was passed down through artists Tawaraya Sotatsu, Ogata Korin, and Sakai Hoitsu. Using only gold or silver leaf backgrounds on folding screens, they expressed unconventional subjects through unique stylization and artistic deformation, breaking away from painting traditions of their time. How, then, might this essence be inherited in the 21st century?

This work overlays an oval moon reflected in the sea and the organic form of a jellyfish (kurage, literally “sea moon” in Japanese) against a background of actual gold leaf. We expressed the Rimpa aesthetic as a method that captures natural forms through bold composition, elevating stylistic elements to the foreground.