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Tom Kristensen

Shell and Sand
copyright Tom Kristensen, 2005

Tom Kristensen, born 1962, is a young artist from Australia who works in the tradition of Japanese woodblock printmaking. On this page, he writes about his latest print from the series "36 Views of Green Island ".

Here is the original text written by Tom Kristensen. Text and images are copyright protected and may not be used or distributed for other than private use without the prior consignment of the author/artist.

36 Views of Green Island

"These 36 views are presented in the Sosaku Hanga tradition: self-carved and hand printed, using Japanese tools, Japanese mulberry washi and traditional pigment colours. Each print is made from 4 to 6 blocks and printed in an edition of 25 copies."

Shell and Sand - No. 16

"Empty sea-shells are washed up on the beach and tell of a life gone before. Most molluscs live safely inside a shell slowly grazing the algae or filtering food particles from the seawater. Others, like the octopus, squid, and cuttlefish swim around and hunt for food. These Cephalopods often have an internal shell that may serve as a beak or a float."

"Spirula spirula is a unique deep-sea squid named for its beautiful coiled ram's horn shaped shell. The small muscular animal grows to 45 mm long and the shell is less than half the body length. As the animal grows in size it adds more chambers, each slightly larger than the last. The chambers are separated, but each has a small opening that may allow for the regulation of gases. The shell protrudes from the rear of the animal and causes it to float with its head and arms hanging down. Spirula is able to ride the ocean depths assisted by the gas content of the chambers. It also has fins, which it flutters to propel itself downwards. By day the animal dives between 500 and 1000 metres deep, at night it swims closer to the surface. Living in the gloom, Spirula is able to glow for hours with a large phosphorescent light organ located up with the shell. Like other Cephalopods, Spirula has large highly developed eyes. It has 10 arms covered with suckers with one pair that are longer and perhaps used to seize prey."

"Truly a creature of the deep, there is little else known about the life and habits of Spirula. There is just a shell of a story."

Tom Kristensen
July 2005

More about Tom Kristensen

The artist was first discovered by Eric van den Ing, co-author of a classic ukiyo-e book "Beauty and Violence" and owner of Saru Gallery. After Eric van den Ing had placed Tom's woodblock prints on his online gallery, a few days later a collector had bought the whole set. Mr. van den Ing seems to have a "magic hand" for new artists. He was the first to introduce Paul Binnie in 2000 to a larger online community of friends of Japanese prints.

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