Ryumei Murahashi's series of copper plate engravings known as the Katana series, examine an age-old culture in a hybrid style that is both contemporary and traditional.  Straddling the realms of the past and present, Murahashi's strikingly detailed prints in the Katana series were an effort a little more than a decade in the making.  Completed in 2006, the collection of 108 prints, each measuring 8.4 inches high by 2.4 inches wide, serves as a meditation on his Buddhist faith. Murahashi's choice to complete 108 prints was by no means random. In reality, the number carries with it deep spiritual meaning, signifying the number of passions a human is said to possess according to Buddhist doctrine. The number also signifies the beads on a Buddhist rosary, and , like a Zen meditation, Murahashi's prints continuously ponder a single theme, the Katana, or Japanese sword.  

Elegant in their asymmetrical balance and stirring in their implicit spirituality, Murahashi's prints are indeed a testament to his own faith and expansive artistic talent. Ryumei Murahashi lives and works in Japan and exhibits internationally.  

Layering multiple rich digital elements that create deeply stylized and complex images, Japanese artist Dan Obana explores the possibilities offered by image-making programs. He has termed his style “digital-hanga,” an updating of the Japanese traditional block printing method hanga. His canvases are dominated by deep gold and brown hues, which create an aura of imagination and nostalgia. Accordingly, the urban sceneries he frequently depicts aren’t rooted in specific places so much as the generalized experience of contemporary city life. Complex networks of lines segment space in much the same way street patterns shape cities. Grid systems serve to organize movement and space within Obana’s canvases.

While the city is Obana’s overt setting and preoccupation, his implicit investigation concerns the digital realm. Placing silhouetted characters into computerized landscapes, he ponders the positive and negative impacts of new technologies. In Dan Obana’s pixilated cityscapes, systemic grids serve a double function. They not only guide the viewers’ eyes, but they also direct their thinking

Masahiko Saga's vibrant and graphic stylistic fusion of Japanese woodblock prints, or ukiyo-e, and Chinese decorative painting creates a decidedly contemporary vision of ancient art-making traditions.  Using the modern methods of computer imaging and archival digital printing, Saga's works possess an identity that is dually grounded in the past and in the present.  Each of Saga's vividly colored prints employs traditional Chinese and Japanese symbols, yet is rendered with such crisp clarity and focus that it instantly resonates with the contemporary viewer.  In fact, Saga's precise color selection, reflective of his computerized art making process, transforms each print from relic to modern marvel. The works, imbued with a pervasive sense of narrative and sweeping movement, often blur the line between fine art and illustration, again exploring a gentle balance between identities.

Born in Japan, Masahiko Saga uses his finely tuned skills in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to bring his unique aesthetic to life. He currently lives and works in Kyoto.