Swing

Swing, a 1989 mezzotint, evokes the arc of pendular motion through Hamanishi's precise tonal language. The title suggests a sweeping trajectory, the path traced by a suspended object moving through space under the influence of gravity. Hamanishi likely renders this kinetic subject through the implied motion of curved forms, their tonal gradations suggesting the way a moving object appears to smear across the visual field at speed while remaining sharp at the extremes of its arc where it momentarily pauses. The mezzotint technique, built from the patient, incremental process of burnishing a roughened plate, contains an inherent tension between the stillness of the finished print and any implied movement within the depicted forms. Swing makes this tension its explicit subject, freezing motion in the permanence of printed ink on paper.