Facing Each Other (向き合うふたり)

Medium: Woodblock
Dimensions: 20 7/8 x 15 inches
Signature: Signed
Artist details: Japanese, 1940
Date finished: 2004
Edition: of 30

Recommended by Emma (Marketing & Communications Manager):
"Aoki's work often focuses on human interaction and human connection - or lack thereof. Amidst his many works featuring crowds of busy people and missed connections, Aoki has delivered this beautiful portrayal of two figures facing each other, stopped in time. With emphatically oversized arms, the figures demonstrate the incredible intimacy and tenderness of simple human touch. Though the figures have no facial features, the piece evokes the disarming sensation of staring directly into someone else's eyes. All that cannot be explained about human emotion seems to rest in the quiet space created between them."