Fabrication (Inclusion)

Fabrication (Inclusion), created in 1966, pairs two words that pull in opposite directions. Fabrication implies construction, making, or even deception, while Inclusion suggests the act of containing or welcoming something within a boundary. Together they describe the paradox at the heart of Amano's printmaking: the artist fabricates a world that includes real physical traces of its own making.

Executed in ink and color on embossed paper, this print uses the three-dimensional quality of karazuri embossing to literalize the concept of inclusion. Portions of the composition are pushed into the paper, creating recessed spaces that physically contain shadow and air. The embossed areas exist below the surface plane, included within the paper itself rather than merely printed upon it. Amano's color choices interact with these topographic variations, as ink settles differently on raised and recessed surfaces, producing tonal effects that are impossible to achieve on flat paper.