Hamanaka continues to push the boundaries of mokuhanga and explore the contemporary possibilities of the medium. Hamanaka learned his craft in a traditional workshop in Tokyo, the Adachi Institute of Woodcut Prints, that specializes in reproductions of ukiyo-e prints using the same techniques of the craftsmen from the Edo period.
He now works independently, teaches at various institutions and has printed for artists including Sol LeWitt. Takuji Hamanaka moved to the United States in 1991. A passion for encouraging the survival of this specialized medium has led these four artists to teach mokuhanga as well as make it an integral part of their own artistic practices. The artists exhibited here have taken many years to master their skills in cutting and printing with a sensitivity to the materials required for mokuhanga. Integral to this technique are hand printing and the natural elements of wood, water, pigment and paper. The carved woodblocks are printed by hand on washi, handmade Japanese paper made from kozo fiber, using a flat disc called a baren. The technique often involves the use of numerous blocks, each carved and printed with a different color. Each print begins as a drawing subsequently transferred onto a woodblock. Known for its vivid color, translucence and illusory perspectival effects, mokuhanga is a water-based woodcut printmaking process perfected in Japan with the commercial woodcuts of ukiyo-e -“pictures of the floating world”- during the Edo period (1603–1868). Prints by Takuji Hamanaka, Ursula Schneider, Yasu Shibata and April Vollmer demonstrate a range of styles, subjects and technical modifications that expand and reinvent mokuhanga. In Japanese calligraphy, the written characters for mokuhangacan be translated into moku – meaning “wood” han – the process of printing and ga referring to the “picture.” New York Mokuhanga brings together four New York State artists who have worked quietly and steadfastly for many years in this traditional Japanese woodblock technique. Mokuhanga Demonstration with April Vollmer: November 16, 2014, 4 pmĬoncert by Morio Agata: December 19, 2014, 7 pm
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