He signs his works simply as ‘Shunkan.’ Shunichiro Kan is a Japanese artisan who moved to Florence from Japan 15 years ago, after completing studies in graphics and economics. However, instead of practising one of Florence’s traditional local crafts, this Japanese artisan brought with him a traditional craft from Asia.
Shunkan is an expert in the ancient craft of Kirie, a method of cutting images from a single piece of paper. Opening his workshop in Florence in 2001, he brought this traditional craft to the cradle of the Renaissance, where he continues to practise it, mixing both Florentine and Japanese subject matter.
After hours and hours of cutting, the images he makes are varied and range from portraits and landscapes to decorative panels and scenes from everyday life. They can be made in black and white or in colour. Shunkan’s works are so vivid and colourful they almost seem three-dimensional.
Kirie was traditionally used in Japan for religious subject matter. It was later adopted and became quite popular in Japanese variety theatre, in which artists competed to transform a single large sheet of paper into any subject they liked, folding and colouring it to bring out the depth and reality of their subjects.
However, in the 15 years that Shunkan has lived in Florence, he has introduced new subjects: he has made many portraits of Florentine and Italian artisans as they create in their workshops, some of whom he met during the five years he exhibited at the annual three-day Artigianato e Palazzo Fair (to be held this May 16 to 19, 2013, in Florence’s Corsini gardens), where he also won the Perseus Prize for the best artisan at the show.
His works include local Florentine subjects as well as Asian ones, such as the Japanese signs of the zodiac. Much of it is inspired by Tuscany, and he unites the best of the Japanese tradition with his own subtle yet audacious style.
This article is published in collaboration with Artigianato e Palazzo (www.artigianatoepalazzo.it)
