White in the Wall

The title "White in the Wall" reverses the typical figure-ground relationship, making an absence, a white area within a larger dark surface, the subject of the print. In woodblock technique, white is the color of the paper itself, revealed where the block has been carved away and receives no ink. A white area within a dark wall-like form thus represents a space where the artist chose to remove rather than add, to subtract wood from the block so that the paper could show through. Masaji's treatment of this negative-space concept likely features a dominant dark field interrupted by a bright passage, an opening or breach in what would otherwise be an opaque surface. The metaphorical resonance is rich: a gap in a wall suggests a window, an escape route, or a crack in certainty.