PAA GYOTAKU: TROPHY TALES at Fish Corner restaurant
Gyotaku (魚拓), the traditional Japanese fish printing technique, is reimagined in Trophy Tales, the latest exhibition by Pāvels Lindemanis of PAA Gyotaku. More than mere fish prints, these works are stark, sculptural studies in texture, contrast, and presence—channeling the spirit of black & white photography and brutalist aesthetics.
Each print is created using the chokusetsu-hō (direct) method, applying sumi ink to the fish and pressing it onto handmade washi paper. No background, no scenery—only fish and form. The results are raw and meditative: anatomical imprints that feel fossilized, weighty, and architectural.
Lindemanis, a lifelong fisherman, treats the fish not as symbol but as collaborator. Its body shapes the print, acting as both subject and tool. Echoing traditional gyotaku's origins as catch documentation, each piece remains honest and unembellished—often with only minimal post-print brushwork.
The process is also circular: every fish is consumed after printing, honoring the full cycle of life, death, and artistic creation.
Trophy Tales invites viewers to contemplate not only the natural form of sea life, but also the quiet gravity of process, material, and memory.
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