Sharaku (写楽), Movie Poster

This movie poster was designed by Katsumi Asaba in 1994 for the film Sharaku. It features thick even black horizontal bands that divide an illustrated kabuki face into four fragments. Asaba makes the poster itself resemble a fragmented ukiyo-e actor portrait. The big “写" and "楽 ”in the the upper corners spell Sharaku (写楽), while the small Romanized Sharaku sits between the two large and cornered kanji characters. The composition uses interruption, negative space, and dramatic shifts in scale to create a modern graphic structure.