Julian Gatto

Julian Gatto is an Argentinian artist working in drawing, installations, and printmaking, whose mokuhanga practice connects him to both the Japanese woodblock tradition and the vibrant New York City printmaking community. He studied mokuhanga with master printer Yasu Shibata at The Cooper Union in New York and holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Gatto's training under Shibata at Cooper Union places him within a direct lineage of Japanese technical expertise adapted for contemporary practice. Shibata, himself a master printer at Pace Editions who has collaborated with artists including Chuck Close and Helen Frankenthaler, teaches traditional ukiyo-e printing methods at Cooper Union, ensuring that students like Gatto receive grounding in authentic Japanese technique alongside their contemporary art education. This combination of traditional Japanese craft training and American art-school conceptualism shapes Gatto's distinctive approach to the medium.

As a participant in the mokuhanga exhibition at the Buster Levi Gallery, Gatto has been part of group shows that bring together practitioners of Japanese woodblock printing in the Hudson Valley region. His work spans drawing, printmaking, and installation, reflecting the expanded field of contemporary mokuhanga practice where artists move freely between mediums while maintaining the water-based woodblock print as a central thread. His inclusion in the Kentler International Drawing Space Flatfiles program further establishes his place within the New York mokuhanga community fostered by Florence Neal.