About the Artist

Nate Crosser (b. 1994) is a mixed media artist and conceptual printmaker based in Kansas City. Working primarily with hand-carved relief printing blocks, ink, and handmade Japanese washi paper, Crosser has developed a practice of symbolic expressionism that is both physical and philosophical.

His technique of composable design treats individually carved blocks as a modular visual vocabulary. Symbols such as torii gates, bison, and uncanny objects are hand-carved into wood or linoleum and then combined in shifting arrangements to generate compositions that are simultaneously one-of-a-kind originals and part of a larger, evolving family of works. Different combinations yield different narratives, aesthetics, and meanings, making each print both a fixed object and an open system.

Crosser's aesthetic comes from Zen, Bauhaus, and American folk art traditions, a sensibility he describes as Japandi — spare, meditative, purposeful, and imperfect.

Central to his philosophy is the idea of each carved block as a totem — a physical embodiment of memory and meaning that carries latent potential until it meets ink and paper. He describes the act of composition as a kind of fermentation: a spontaneous, unpredictable process similar to how jazz music is performed live.

Crosser is primarily self-taught, but learned traditional woodblock printmaking at the Mokuhanga Innovation Lab in Echizen, Japan.

In his free time, Nate enjoys travel, yoga, carpentry, gardening, reading, cooking, and making beer.

After earning his J.D., he has worked in non-profits and venture capital. In addition to his art, Nate writes poetry and fiction (moonlitlibrary.com) as well as a “solarpunk” blog covering emerging opportunities in environmentalism (ecotech.substack.com).

Nate lives with his wife and muse Marissa, and their cats and koi.