A Winter's Tale Woodcut Series

A Winter's Tale is about a dream a man had one night. In his dream, he was transformed into a wolf and wandered around in a forest at night. He didn't know why he was in the forest nor did he know where he was heading. Somehow he arrived at a little pond. When he looked at the pond, he could see the golden silhouette of a woman reflected on the water. Looking at the silhouette he became captivated. He decided to find out the origin of the golden reflection and started to search around. However, when he reached the place where he thought the silhouette was from, there were flowers (of a type homophonous with “chicken” in Japanese). After the long search, he realized that there was no one in the forest apart from him. He was so disappointed and decided to head home. On the way home, he saw a beautiful chicken. Without thinking, he killed the chicken instinctively. He didn't know that the chicken was in fact the silhouette he was looking for the whole night. Without realizing that he had killed the object of his search, he felt content that at least he had a feast after the long night’s wandering. The man woke up from his dream and his long winter had already began.

This story is about life. Life is like a journey; when you are on a journey, you often look for something and you often find something. There are times when you don't know what you are looking for, there are times when you see something that you are looking for but pass by without realizing it. Also, life can be like a dream, but dreams are also a part of reality. ‘A Winter's Tale’ was created with these thoughts in mind.

Reflections, 30 x 21 cm, 2007

A Winter's Tale, 86 x 57 cm

The Shadow, 49.5 x 73 cm, 2007

The Killing, 59.5 x 91 cm, 2007