Rick Bartow

Japanese Tale

Native American artist Rick Bartow (Wiyot Tribe) began incorporating Japanese iconography into his work in the mid-1990s after visiting Japan. During his trip, he met master printer Seiichi Hiroshima, who became his lifelong printmaking collaborator. Through his ongoing relationship with Hiroshima, Bartow continued to explore his fascination with Japanese culture and language. He was particularly interested in the image of the samurai and rendered this warrior figure in many dry-point prints that he created with Hiroshima. Japanese Tale (1994) is a large-scale, abstract drawing that depicts a samurai with a traditional Japanese topknot hairstyle (chonmage). The other sets of teeth, eyes, and hands that surround the samurai may indicate he is in movement or perhaps joined by other warriors in battle.