"MASK'O"...

This print belongs to Hagiwara's exploration of mask imagery, a subject that allowed him to probe the layered relationship between surface and concealment. Mask forms in his work typically emerge from dense accumulations of color fields built through multiple block impressions, with edges that dissolve rather than define. The abstract treatment pushes beyond representation toward an inquiry into identity and presentation. Hagiwara's characteristic translucency — achieved by printing semi-opaque pigments in precise sequence — gives the mask form an internal luminosity, as though light is passing through the image from within rather than falling upon it. The sosaku-hanga ethos of artist-as-carver, printer, and publisher is fully present in the controlled complexity of the color relationships.