Rebirth, pen and ink

Japanese artist Manabu Ikeda is known for vast ink drawings on a scale rarely seen in this traditional media. Encompassing cascades of small details and figures, Ikeda’s works reveal themselves over time, on prolonged viewings.

History of Rise and Fall, pen and ink

It’s very impressive that all of this is done in the relatively simple medium of pen and ink. Each artwork takes a central station on the paper or substrate, seeming to bloom out and up from one central point, becoming a rounded portrayal of an entire enclosed world. There’s a certain sense of satisfaction for the viewer in being able to step back and look at what seems like an entire planet.

The sense of movement in each works is excellent. Each line seems curved and interconnected, and draws the viewer’s eye all around the work. Viewing these drawings is almost like watching an animation, in the way that the drawing changings and different characters play different roles as the eye moves about the piece. 

Ark, pen and acrylic ink