katsumi komagata: little tree

A book on seasons and the cycle of life.

A tree grows and unfolds with the seasons and the passage of time, becoming object and emotion at the same time. The text, all in reserve and poetry, very skilfully accompanies the emotion which lives within the book. A pure wonder, simply, to be opened over and over.

A storybook that is a pleasure for the eyes and for the smallest of hands: curious fingers lift, unfold, fold back, roll up and bind the pages in a continuous visual game.

Katsumi Komagata overturns the traditional form of the book, allowing the reader to experience the space of the page in a new way. Through the images he tells us that in our world our vision of things is partial, relative and often deceitful. With simplicity and immediacy - and above all with limited means - he obtains results of great quality. He narrates small stories among the folds of his books that look like a game of hide-and-seek. The reader’s eyes become progressively more audacious seizing on the author’s idea of playing at hiding and then revealing.

Between seriousness and irony, confirmation and surprise, a profound complicity takes place between the author and his readers. A tactile as well as a visual experience, for book art enthusiasts as much as for parents sharing the book with a child.

first published in 2008
hardback with traditional pages and pages of pop-ups
English and Japanese (text in both)

printed and bound in Tokyo, Japan