divine intervention spitzack woodblock woodcut mokuhanga print printmaking washi seattle art

"Divine Intervention" returns Spitzack to religious subject matter, the title referring to the theological concept of direct supernatural action in earthly affairs. The print likely treats the theme through a single emblematic image — a beam of light, a descending hand, an interrupted scene — rather than a narrative tableau. Mokuhanga's bokashi technique is well suited to rendering luminous or radiating effects, with gradated washes on dampened washi producing the soft transitions associated with depictions of sacred light. Multiple-block registration allows for the layering of a glowing element over a darker ground without the flat opacity of oil-based inks. Together with "The Pearly Gates," the print indicates a strand within Spitzack's practice that engages Christian iconography through a Japanese Buddhist-derived technical tradition, a cross-religious juxtaposition that reflects the cross-cultural orientation of the contemporary international mokuhanga movement in which his work was recognized at Echizen in 2024.