Jacob Hashimoto | The Vanishing Point of Night – The Secret Lives of Comets Monoprints

Artist Jacob Hashimoto has produced two new series of prints with Durham Press experimenting with new, uniquely shaped kite forms at vastly different scales: The Vanishing Point of Night (above) stands at a monumental 79 x 38 inches, while the more intimate scale of The Secret Lives of Comets (below) measures at 37 ¼ x 16 inches. Both series are printed on thick, handmade Japanese paper that captures the strong embossment of each individually placed woodblock. These two series mark a departure from Hashimoto’s previous work with Durham Press: the vibrantly colored and patterned kites seen in past editions such as The Necessary Invention of the Mind are replaced by pure white kites, punctuated by small blocks of color. Rather than creating structure through color, Hashimoto layers kite upon kite to form a complex framework held together by string which has been hand-arranged by the artist. In The Vanishing Point of Night, these strings also serve to connect the series of prints together, sweeping across the page to connect the individual prints. 

Both The Vanishing Point of Night and The Secret Lives of Comets are full of dynamism and tension as the strings are pulled taught by the gravity carried by the kites or draped as if floating through space. Each print interacts with gravity in new ways – some densely packed as if you can feel the weight, while others float airily across the paper. Toeing the line between structure and chaos, the kinetic energy of these two new series seems to build and erupt, either exploding or collapsing from within as they expand beyond their boarders.