After a successful career of writing and illustrating children's books, Ryoji Arai set out to do something he had always wanted to do– paint in dark colors. In this book, Arai paints each of these 23 works one-by-one with no beginning or end, and no story to link the paintings together. Each piece was sparked by a vague memory, mixed with a bit of fantasy, and tend to leave the viewer with a sense of nostalgia. What he set out to create as dark and heavy paintings ended up in a collection full of color.

Pictures Before a Picture Book. By Ryoji Arai. Illustrations by Ryoji Arai. Published by BON BOOK, 2022. First Edition. Limited edition of 3,000. 

Size: About 6"x8". 148 pages.

Language: Japanese & English

*This book has three different cover options. Please select below: