SATO Takahiro

Born: 1966, in Hokkaido

Mediium: Mezzotint




Takahiro Sato comes from a family with a long line of teachers--going back five generations. He too was expecting to be a history teacher, earning both a Bachelors and a Masters degree in European history from Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto.

After moving to California to teach Japanese, he has discovered the joys of printmaking. Now a resident of Marin County, Sato has chosen to tackle this most difficult of all printmaking media.

With mezzotint, the artist must first roughen the entire copperplate surface. A toothed rocker is passed over the metal in several directions, creating a uniform surface of small pits. Were the plate to be inked at this point, it would print a soft velvety black. To create the image, the artist burnishes away the pits so they won’t hold ink. The final result is a light image on a dark background. It is a much more time consuming and slow process than other printmaking media.



Sato’s works show the delicacy of the medium, combined with the artist’s own particular sensibilities and vision. His images are primarily still life scenes of fruit, flowers and leaves.



Exhibtions:


National Small Print Exhibition, University of Wisconsin

Pacific Prints, Juried Competition, Pacific Art League of Palo Alto, CA
Marin Society of Artists, Open Juried Shows
Solo Show, Gallery at Toby's, Point Reyes Station