Biography
Benjamin Selby is an American artist working in mokuhanga, serigraphy, and installation, based in Walla Walla, Washington. His innovative approach to Japanese woodblock printing -- using laser engraving rather than traditional hand carving -- places him at the intersection of digital fabrication and centuries-old printmaking tradition.
Selby grew up in Texas and earned his bachelor's degree in printmaking from West Texas A&M University before completing his master's degree in Arizona. As an undergraduate in 2018, he made a three-month trip to Japan that proved pivotal, inspiring him to learn mokuhanga. The technique became central to his artistic practice, though his method is distinctly contemporary. During a period of creative block, Selby was inspired by a wooden cabinet he had designed using a laser engraver, leading him to develop a technique in which he creates his woodblocks through laser engraving rather than the traditional method of hand carving with gouges. This approach allows him to achieve levels of detail and precision that would be extremely difficult to produce by hand, while still employing the traditional water-based printing methods that define mokuhanga.
Selby is deeply embedded in the mokuhanga community through his role as an Advisory Board Member at the Mokuhanga Project Space in Walla Walla, where Keiko Hara has established a vital center for international exchange in Japanese woodblock printing. He has led workshops at the Space and participated in its summer residency programs alongside artists such as Mike Lyon and Vicky Takamori. His work has been exhibited at the International Mokuhanga Conference in Nara (2021) and the IMC 2024 Americas exhibition, and he is a contributor to the Mokuhanga Magic Mokublad publication and listed on the Mokumap directory.
Key Facts
- Nationality
- 🇺🇸United States
- Movement
- Contemporary Mokuhanga
Frequently Asked Questions
Benjamin Selby is an American artist working in mokuhanga, serigraphy, and installation, based in Walla Walla, Washington. His innovative approach to Japanese woodblock printing -- using laser engraving rather than traditional hand carving -- places him at the intersection of digital fabrication and centuries-old printmaking tradition.
Benjamin Selby's work was shaped by the Contemporary Mokuhanga tradition in Japanese woodblock printmaking. Contemporary Mokuhanga: Contemporary mokuhanga (literally "wood-block print") encompasses artists working from approximately 1970 to the present who continue or reinvent traditional Japanese woodblock printing techniques.
Benjamin Selby is a contemporary printmaker working in the mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock) tradition. Their work contributes to the living tradition of Japanese woodblock printing. Prices for contemporary mokuhanga prints range from $100 for smaller works to $1,500 for major compositions. Most prints sell in the $180–$600 range. The global mokuhanga community has been growing, with increasing exhibition opportunities and collector interest. Contemporary mokuhanga represents an affordable entry point for collectors.