Karakami-shi Toto Akihiko
ARTWORKS
A blue work of art consecrated as a prayer for world peace.
With a history and tradition of over 1,000 years behind him, karakami artist Toto Akihiko is taking his discipline into the uncharted territory of art. In 2008, Toto Akihiko presented karakami as art for the first time in its history. Since then, he has continued walking the untrodden path.
Combining pointillism from the West with tarashikomi from the East, Toto Akihiko has developed his original technique of “shifuku printing,” which involves using his own fingers to apply pigments. Filled with the poetic sentiment created in concert with all the gods and spirits, the mysterious, deep blue karakami works of art born of this original technique are lovingly known as “Toto Blue,” or the “blue art” of the “blue artist.”