Untitled work by Manfred Egger

This untitled print belongs to the body of work surrounding Egger's participation in the 2021 IMC juried exhibition in Nara. Mokuhanga's water-based pigments produce effects distinct from oil-based Western relief printing — most notably bokashi, the graded transition from saturated tone to bare paper achieved by brushing pigment across the block before each impression. Whether or not bokashi is the dominant technique here, the medium itself imposes a slow, iterative making process: each pass requires the block to be re-inked with pigment and rice paste (nori), the washi to be brought to a controlled moisture level, and the baren drawn across the back of the sheet by hand. Egger's representation of Austria in the international mokuhanga community reflects the technique's ongoing diffusion through Europe via residencies, MI-LAB workshops, and the IMC itself, which functions as the principal gathering point for practitioners working outside Japan.