Artist's Statement
The Hanga Woodcut
In the mid 60's, I happened to find myself in Kyoto,
Japan, where, by chance and good fortune, I was introduced to HANGA, the Japanese
Technique Woodcut Printmaking by Clifton Karhu. And without stopping I have been
at it ever since because the technique gives me the basis to express a wide range
of ideas and effects, besides being temperamentally rewarding.
Most of the prints in this show use modern HANGA
techniques that have evolved from the traditional Ukiyoe techniques that in
themselves evolved over the 17th and 18th C. - from the early black and white
prints (sumizuri-e) to the multiple color brocade prints (nishiki-e). They
are cut on 3/8" Shina plywood blocks, using a number of traditional cutting
tools - the world's best - plus an etching needle. Paper registration notches
(Kento) are cut on each block so all the color areas line up as designed.
Printing is on the finest Japanese paper (washi)
by a handheld printing tool (baren) - not an etching press, using water based
color, gouache, etc. - not oils as in the West. All the features mentioned
above are important, but the key to Ukiyoe and HANGA greatness is the washi,
without which everything else is more or less meaningless. Good paper facilitates
easy printing and luminous color.
History/techno - talk is only half of what art
is all about. The mastery of craft is of use if the art has content, a message
and the mastery of formal problems. My prints speak for themselves, off the
wall.
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Dusk, Bill Payden, 1970-1990
Photograph by Mike Mosall
Stone Forest, Bill Payden, 1970-1990
Photograph by Mike Mosall
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