Nigel Brown

This print is titled for Nigel Brown, a New Zealand painter recognized for figurative compositions that often incorporate text and engage political, environmental, or biographical themes. Reed's practice of dedicating mokuhanga sheets to particular individuals establishes a portrait-by-name — the printed image standing in relation to the named subject without necessarily depicting them. Mokuhanga technique requires the design be cut into a sequence of cherry blocks, each registered through kentō notches and printed in sequence: typically a [sumi](/glossary/sumi) key block first, then colour blocks layered beneath, all burnished by hand onto absorbent [washi](/glossary/washi) with a [baren](/glossary/baren). [Bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations along block edges and across tonal fields extend the range available within the medium's characteristic flatness. Reed exhibited at the 2021 International Mokuhanga Conference in Nara, whose juried exhibition addressed the theme of sumi — a context in which the discipline of black ink became the shared concern of an international community of practitioners.