ROME

I first came across the word mitate on a gallery tag at the Cleveland Museum of Art. It describes the Japanese tradition of substituting expected figures with unexpected ones, often seen in ukiyo-e prints from the Edo period. It felt like a light switched on. I remember thinking, “Oh, that has a name?” - because I had been working that way all along, unknowingly participating in this artistic tradition.

"ROME" blends the concept of mitate with the visuals of Greco-Roman vases. I was especially inspired by a mosaic of the Aldborough wolf.

Mosaic depicting the She-wolf with Romulus and Remus, inspired by the legend of the founding of Rome. From Aldborough (UK), about 300-400 CE (Leeds City Museum).

Stand-in Fugen
見立普賢菩薩図
late 1700s–early 1800s
Kitao Masayoshi
北尾 政美