History

The title suggests Stewart's engagement with Kyoto's deep temporal layers, a recurring concern in his work since settling in the city in 1986. Executed in mokuhanga — the Japanese woodblock technique using water-based pigments, [washi](/glossary/washi) paper, and a [baren](/glossary/baren) for hand-burnishing — the print likely reproduces a weathered architectural detail, a relic, or an aged surface that condenses long passages of time into a single visual register. Stewart's sensitivity to gradations of light and shadow, developed across his etching and lithography practice, translates in mokuhanga to controlled [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) passages where pigment is brushed unevenly onto the block to produce soft tonal transitions. Shown at Hangaten, Kyoto's international woodblock print exhibition, the work places Stewart within a community of practitioners — many foreign-born — who have adopted mokuhanga as a contemporary medium while drawing on its Edo-period lineage. The reflective title aligns with his broader interest in still and worn objects rather than figural or narrative subjects.