Yoshio Honjo, JIGOKUDAYŪ, 2024, Kumohadamashi Suihi-Enogu Sumi-ink,182 x 121cm

Yoshio Honjo straddles different cultural paradigms. His imagery is pictorially edgy—a career in tattooing studios has rendered him a master of this most permanent of art forms. He exists as a thoroughly urban artist—cool to a fault. This persona belies his deeply passionate sensibility for the traditions and stories of his Japanese homeland. These mythologies, etched into the psyche of the cultural heritage of Japan, are far more wide-reaching than the generic Japonisme that has spread around the world since the country opened up to Western trade in the 1850s.

“The Serpent, the Courtesan and other Japanese Fables” is a watershed moment in Honjo’s exhibiting career. The sheer physical scale of his work imbues a power that belies the delicate nature of the medium. Hand-drawn linework is embellished with coloured pigments, laid down on the most unforgiving of hand-made washi paper.