Iris No 93 — 花菖蒲 No 93

The ninety-third entry in Sugiura Kazutoshi's iris series shows the hana-shōbu against a ground enriched with gold-leaf application — a technique he learned from classical Japanese painting and adapted to his printmaking practice. The gold does not simply gild the composition but interacts with the overprinted silkscreen layers to create an atmospheric depth, as if the flower exists within a luminous void rather than in front of a flat background. Sugiura's exhibitions in the United States during the 1980s and 1990s brought this iris series to significant international attention.