Arch

The title indicates an architectural or natural arch as the central motif, a curved span that organises the composition around the void it frames. Arches function in printmaking as both subject and compositional device, the eye drawn through the opening to whatever the artist places beyond, whether a figure, a landscape, or further abstraction. In mokuhanga, the curve must be carved continuously across one or more blocks, the cleanness of the arc dependent on how the carver controls the hangi-tō and aisuki against the cherry or shina plywood substrate. Pigment density is typically modulated by varying the amount of nori paste mixed with the colour and by adjusting [baren](/glossary/baren) pressure, allowing Wong to articulate the arch's interior surface differently from its surrounding mass. As part of the body of work Wong showed at the International Mokuhanga Conference in Nara, the print reflects how the medium accommodates architectural and geometric subjects beyond the figurative and landscape traditions that dominate its history, pointing toward the formal experimentation common in the contemporary mokuhanga community.