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"Star Wars" Scenes Reimagined as Centuries-Old Japanese Woodblocks

The Rhythm Project fuses a centuries-old craft with popular culture, combining characters from the Star Wars franchise with the art of Japanese woodblock printing. Featuring three prints, the endeavor reimagines the films' figures and settings in the style of ukioy-e, which is a popular Edo-era genre depicting the likes of kabuki actors, sumo wrestlers, and landscapes. Here, Rhythm Project takes the exquisite details and soft coloring found in these prints and applies them to the 21st century.

The cultural mashup features famous scenes, including Darth Vader brandishing a lightsaber and the epic battle on Hoth. Each piece was hand-carved by a wood sculptor and a separate block created for every color in the print. Afterwards, another craftsman combined all of the blocks onto paper. Rhythm Project produced a total of 600 limited edition prints, 200 of each composition. They're currently available through the Japanese crowdfunding site, Makuake.

Rhythm Force: Website
via [Booooooom and designboom]

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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