In the manner of Katsushika Hokusai
Japanese, 1760–1849
Wind Tunnel on the Expressway, 2026
Woodblock print
26 × 39 cm
Never painted.
Commissioned for the collection, 2026.
PAB 2026.5.2
← Great Wave off the Container Port Cyclists Crossing at Shibuya →
A gust has snatched a plastic bag and a sheaf of papers and thrown them across a raised expressway, where the cars are too small to notice. Far off, beyond the curve of the road, a little snow-capped mountain has turned up after all, next to a wind turbine. In one of Hokusai's prints, travellers on a country road lose a hat and a whole sheaf of papers to the wind. We have kept the papers and added the bag.
The brief
A gust sweeping papers and a plastic bag over an elevated highway, small cars, a wind turbine tiny in the distance. Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock print, flat areas of Prussian blue, indigo, ochre and pale cream, bold outlined forms, stylised curling waves and clouds, a small distant landmark anchoring the composition, dramatic foreground movement, visible wood grain and slight registration offset, rice paper texture. Museum photograph of the print on paper, flat even lighting, no frame, no text, no wall, no floor, cropped to the edge of the sheet.
Written to the house rules. The painter's name does not appear.
Take it home
The painting on this room's wall, at its own proportions, nothing written on it.
