The Wind-Up Bird

The inspiration behind this piece is Haruki Murakami’s ‘The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles’. A story of a young, Toru Okada, who searches for his wife's missing cat. Soon he finds himself looking for his wife as well in a netherworld that lies beneath the placid surface of Tokyo. As these searches intersect, Okada encounters a bizarre group of allies and antagonists: a psychic prostitute; a malevolent yet mediagenic politician; a cheerfully morbid sixteen-year-old-girl; and an aging war veteran who has been permanently changed by the hideous things he witnessed during Japan's forgotten campaign in Manchuria.

“But even so, every now and then I would feel a violent stab of loneliness. The very water I drink, the very air I breathe, would feel like long, sharp needles. The pages of a book in my hands would take on the threatening metallic gleam of razor blades. I could hear the roots of loneliness creeping through me when the world was hushed at four o'clock in the morning”.

Dimensions: 180mm (w) x 215mm (h)

Year: 2026

Medium: Graphite and ink on moleskin paper

Framing Specifications: Custom framed in a distressed black ornate frame. Finished with UltraVue UV70 glass, a virtually invisible, anti-reflection glass, and eco-spacers to create a space between the artwork and glass.

Framed Dimensions: 275mm (w) x 315mm (h)