Sea Urchin

One of Miyamoto's earlier documented works, this 2012 woodblock print depicts a sea urchin — uni — a subject that bridges his food-centered practice with a marine reference that justifies the Seascapes classification. A whole sea urchin presents a complex geometric surface of radiating spines and curved test, requiring multiple carved blocks to describe both the spherical volume and the individual spine detail. Miyamoto's transparent pigment application, built through successive overprinting on washi, gives the urchin's spines an illuminated quality, as if light passes through rather than reflects off the shell. At this earlier date in his practice, the work likely established the formal vocabulary — isolated subject, neutral ground, volumetric transparency — that would characterize his subsequent food prints.