About

This project takes its name from a zine I made back in 2014. In it, I tried to connect two places/times:

Boedo, a neighborhood in the south of Buenos Aires that in the early 20th century was one of the destinations of the first wave of Japanese immigration to Argentina. These immigrants opened cafés, where artists, writers, and anarchists gathered.

The Edo period in Japan (1603-1868), where the technique of woodblock printing with water-based inks reached its peak, in the style known in the West as ukiyo-é. The same techniques are currently used in what is now known as mokuhanga*.

What connects both is my own artistic practice in the 21st century.

This new version of Boedo seeks to continue connecting places, people, and things through new prints, fanzines, and collaborations with other artists.

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Julián Gatto is a visual artist, teacher, and printmaker. He likes to escape from screens (at least for a while) into the tactile and meditative world of water-based woodblock printing. His work combines technical rigor with the audacity (?) of formal experimentation. He is always looking for new media and ways of working.

Born in Buenos Aires, he studied at the University of Buenos Aires, The Cooper Union in New York (BFA), the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (MFA), and the University of California, Davis (PhD).

When he's not carving wood or mixing pigments, he's probably riding his bike, or playing with his daughter, Río.

* Mokuhanga originated in China and was perfected in Japan during the Edo period, when artists, engravers, and printers developed the style known in the West as Ukiyo-é. This technique is characterized by the absence of harmful chemicals or special equipment, such as presses. The inks are water-based, and printing is done manually on environmentally friendly paper made in family workshops for generations.