A mysterious process involving waxed paper stencils, textured metal plates, silk-screen frame and squeegee was used to produce this remarkable group of prints, which bear little resemblance to prints made by any of the well-known processes. subtle overlappings of waxy, transparent colors provide backgrounds for line renderings, in the Oriental tradition of understatement, of two poppies, a dish of plums, and a chrysanthemum.
It might be tempting for critics to call Fukui’s work precious or shallow. But one must beware of confusing preciousness with delicacy, shallowness with simplicity. Fukui’s prints are technically delicate, compositionally simple (uncluttered) and as such represent the logical culmination of the Japanese print tradition. In a time when most of his compatriot printmakers have lapsed into slick commercialism to pacify the Western print market, Fukui remains refreshingly untouched.
—Virginia Allen
