EXHIBITION STATEMENT:

Baren 100-B, organized by Mike Lyon in 2025, is a mokuhanga exchange portfolio and a continuation of barenforum.org’s efforts, which began in 1998. In an exchange portfolio, artists create prints for each participant, and the organizer then collates and distributes them. Baren 100-B required that the prints be mokuhanga (traditional Japanese-style woodblock printing using water-borne pigment) on washi (handmade paper made from kozo or related fibers) in the hashira-e size. Known as pillar prints, works in hashira-e decorated the wooden supports of Japanese homes. Given the project’s constraints, artists were free to choose any subject, which range from abstract color studies to nature themes to legendary kabuki characters.