About this Product
This piece of art is an original life-size Gyotaku rubbing of a Redfish on banana paper. The paper can be cut or torn to the size that fits your need. The Trevally has been rubbed more than once, but each rubbing creates a unique and one of a kind work of art.
Paper size: 25 x 37 inches. Fish size: 7 x 21 inches.
I am a professional sportfishing captain and fish in Costa Rica, Panama, Galapagos and Tahiti. The fish is laid out on the beach at the end of the fishing day and brushed with a non toxic acrylic paint. I then rub it onto a high quality Mulberry paper. The paper is dried and rolled for storage or sale. Some details such as eyes and signature are added later in the studio.
Banana paper is a beautiful and durable, as well as an environmentally-conscious paper. Banana trees produce fruit only once a year and are then cut down, leaving abundant waste or by-product. Recycling the fiber from this by-product, into paper, helps to prevent the eco-system’s rivers and forests from becoming polluted with waste. The banana paper is made with a Kozo paper base and contains heavy banana bark inclusions.
Gyotaku is a Japanese fish printing art created by warlords in the early 1800's. The warlords used rice paper and natural berry inks to preserve the exact sizes of their catch. They would compete with each other and needed a way to record the fish as well being able to honor the fish itself. At first the rubbing was done with just one color strictly to record size and species, but at a later date it evolved as an art form with many colored inks and paper.
This rubbing is not a reproduced print, but an original art.
Captain Warren's Fish Prints
Meet the Maker
I have been a fishing captain since the mid 1970s and was one of the very first sportfishing captains in Costa Rica. Today I combine my love of fishing with my passion for art. You will find fish rubbed in Costa Rica, Panama, the Galapagos, and Tahiti in my etsy shop.
I started practicing Gyotaku as a great way to preserve (non catch-and-release) fish as art. At the end of my fishing day, I brush the fish while on the beach, with non-toxic acrylic paint and rub it onto Japanese paper for printing. Once the rubbing process is complete, I wash off the fish in the ocean, and prepare it for consumption. Some of the details such as highlights and eyes are later added in my studio.
The art of Gyotaku was created by Japanese warlords in the early 1800s as a way to document their catches. The warlords used rice paper and natural berry inks to preserve the exact sizes of their catch. Although I use acrylics, original Gyotaku was created with natural berry inks. Part of what makes the art so special is the beautiful hand-made Japanese Washi Paper the fish is rubbed onto. The crinkling of the paper is determined by the shape of the fish. For additional information on the history of Gyotaku, I recommend watching this short video: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/gyotaku-the-ancient-japanese-art-of-printing-fish-k-erica-dodge
You can find reproductions of my rubbings at Walmart, Overstock, and Wayfair.
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