Untitled work by Karen Pittman

This untitled mokuhanga print continues Pittman's investigation of the Japanese woodblock medium through a body of work that consistently declines descriptive titling. Mokuhanga differs from oil-based relief printing in fundamental ways: the printing surface is dampened washi rather than dry paper, the pigments are water-soluble and combined with rice paste, and the impression is taken by hand with a baren rather than by press. These technical conditions produce a particular surface quality — softer edges, deeper paper saturation, and the capacity for fine bokashi gradations — that contemporary practitioners frequently foreground in non-representational work. Pittman's 2024 selection for the International Mokuhanga Conference Americas juried exhibition places this print within a curated representation of the technique's current state in the Western Hemisphere. The work participates in the IMC's documentary function as both an exhibition platform and a record of how mokuhanga is being interpreted by artists trained in contexts beyond its country of origin.