Untitled work by Craig Vaughn Fisher

This untitled work by Fisher exemplifies the disciplined material economy of contemporary American mokuhanga. The print is built from successive impressions of hand-carved blocks, each carrying a single color or area of tone, applied with water-based pigments mixed with rice paste and brushed onto the wood before pressing. The technique permits a translucent layering uncommon in Western relief printing, with bokashi gradations possible within a single block through varied brushwork. Fisher's choice of an untitled designation removes any external referent and asks the viewer to attend to the print's surface qualities directly. Working from Toledo, Ohio — a city whose glassmaking heritage trained generations of craftsmen in the close observation of material behavior — Fisher's practice draws an unstated parallel between two craft traditions concerned with translucency, layering, and timing. Untitled prints in his catalogue are typically modest in scale and printed in small editions on hand-dampened washi.