Touch-133

Touch-133 (2025, 73 × 67 cm) is the 133rd numbered entry in Kuroki's long-running 'Touch' series, executed in his signature hybrid medium of cloth graph / woodblock lithograph (布版画 / 木版画リトグラフ) — a process that combines relief printing from carved blocks with lithographic transfer onto fabric rather than [washi](/glossary/washi). The abstract designation suggests a non-representational composition built from layered tactile marks, the title 'Touch' referring both to the physical contact of block and stone against cloth and to the perceptual emphasis on surface texture that the cloth substrate produces. Working on woven ground rather than paper allows ink to settle into the weft, producing softened edges and a matte absorption distinct from the crisp registration of traditional [nishiki-e](/glossary/nishiki-e). Shown at the 68th CWAJ Print Show 2025 in Tokyo, the work continues a serial practice Kuroki has sustained from his Miyazaki studio, where he has remained since training under Seishi Kozaku at Tama Art University. The series' three-figure numbering reflects an iterative investigation of a single formal problem rather than discrete one-off compositions, aligning him with conceptually serial strands of postwar Japanese contemporary printmaking.