Katsunori Hamanishi

In his early prints, Hamanishi created quietly suspenseful compositions out of twigs, branches, rice stalks, ropes, and knots, all thrown into vivid three-dimensional relief by their sharp tonal contrasts. Sculptural and meditative, these minimalist compositions opened up mezzotint to the genre of still life.

Since the mid-1900s, Japan has been an important center for the revival of mezzotint. Japanese artists have drawn from both European and local printmaking traditions while pushing ahead with technical innovations, including the development of mechanical rocking machines to prepare larger plates. Hamanishi claims to have adopted mezzotint as a more environmentally friendly technique than aquatint, which uses toxic acids to achieve similar results.