Streets of Vietnam
Since living and working in Ho Chi Minh City I have found myself being inspired by the hustle and bustle of street life and culture here. Starting with my illustrations I found myself growing fond of funny expressions, sayings and traditions as well as different types of street food.
Hand Carved
20 Years of experimentation
Worldwide Shipping
Every block carved by hand from Jack's original illustrations
Since the mid 2000's, creating limited edition, fine art prints, hand burnished without a press.
Original prints and digital reproductions shipped globally via DHL
Oil & Water — Reduction Woodcut with Watercolour
A technique born from necessity. Refined over years. Entirely our own.
What began as a practical solution to a commission — hand-painting a woodcut to satisfy a colour requirement, gradually revealed something worth developing further.
The problem was simple: strong black ink resisted the watercolour sitting on top of it. The two mediums fought each other rather than working together. It didn't feel right.
So the process evolved. Instead of printing in black first and painting over it, the sequence was reversed and expanded. Lighter oil-based ink layers are now printed first in multiple layers— building colour, tone and depth directly into the wood grain through multiple reduction passes whilst watercolor is lightly and loosely splashed over the oils. The reaction of water-based pigments being repelled by the thick, oil-based printing inks creates a truly unique effect.
Only at the final stage does the strong black or dark blue layer come down, sandwiching the colour beneath it, locking it into the print, giving it weight and definition.
The result is something that sits between printmaking and painting — neither fully one nor the other. Each print is unrepeatable not just because of the limited edition but because the hand-painted element ensures no two are ever identical.
Years of practice. One original process. Entirely made by hand. 🎨
The galleries on this page have an extensive range of art both sold and available. Feel free to scroll further through the galleries to see the full range and visit our online shop for available to purchase range...
Traditional, Single layer woodcuts
Single impression. Permanent mark. Nothing added, nothing taken away.
Where the Oil & Water prints explore colour and painting, these works return to the raw fundamentals of the medium. Single layer impressions pulled directly from the block — mostly in black, occasionally in dark blue or two colours — each one a direct conversation between the carved wood and the paper.
Jack's experience with the woodcut medium started in the late 2000s in Leeds whilst studying for his degree, travelled with him through Australia and finally over to Vietnam.
The influences here run deep. The bold psychological energy of German Expressionism, the narrative storytelling tradition of Frans Masereel and the compositional refinement of Japanese Ukiyo-e all find their way into the work — filtered through more than a decade of living and printing in Vietnam.
What makes these prints distinctive is the wood itself. Rather than fighting the grain, it is embraced as part of the image. Pine shelving, magnolia and plywood are chosen deliberately for their natural patterns — the grain doesn't interrupt the composition, it completes it. Each block has its own character and that character becomes part of every print pulled from it.
Editions range from 25 to 75 prints, with some more limited where the block itself determines the output.
Every print is signed and numbered by the artist.
Traditional woodcut prints are produced in limited editions of 25–75. Printed on fine art paper, signed and numbered by the artist. Some editions are more limited where the block determines output. Contact us for current availability and pricing.
Relief Woodblock Carvings Unique Works
The block behind the print. Transformed into the artwork itself.
Every woodcut print begins with a block. But what happens to that block after the edition is complete is usually unremarkable — it gets stored, reused or discarded. These works take a different path.
Each relief carving begins as the original woodblock used to produce a limited edition print. Once the edition is finished, the block is taken back to the studio and re-carved — deepening the relief, pushing the three-dimensional quality of the image far beyond what the printing process requires. The carved surfaces are then hand-painted, bringing the composition to life in a way that sits somewhere between sculpture and painting.
The result is a wall-hung object of extraordinary presence. The wood grain, the chisel marks, the layers of hand-applied colour — everything that was hidden behind the printed surface is now the surface itself. No two are alike. No edition will ever be made. These are the originals behind the originals.
Currently four works exist in this collection — three at 40 x 60cm and one at 60 x 80cm. Two are already sold. Prices range from $1,000 to $3,000 USD with values expected to increase as the collection develops.
To enquire about availability contact us directly. 🎨
Hao Sy Phuong - Block Carving
Status: Available — $3,000 USD | 60 x 80cm
The largest and most ambitious piece in the collection — a bird's eye view looking down into a Saigon apartment courtyard at sunset, the sky blazing gold and blue above the rooftops. At 60 x 80cm the scale allows for an extraordinary level of carved detail — every pot plant, every railing, every window shutter rendered in deep relief and hand-painted with remarkable precision. This is the flagship piece of the collection and the benchmark for all future relief works.
Hanoi Temple
Status: SOLD | 40 x 60cm
A Hanoi temple gate framed by the enormous roots and trunk of an ancient banyan tree — one of the most atmospheric subjects in the collection. The deep carving of the tree's root system creates a genuinely sculptural surface, the wood grain and chisel marks becoming the texture of the bark itself. A flower vendor on a bicycle passes in the foreground. Hand-painted in rich golds, oranges and greens against a dark carved sky.
Hu Tieu Chay
Status: Available — $1,500 USD | 40 x 60cm
A Saigon street food scene carved in extraordinary detail — the temple pagoda rising above the chaos of plastic stools, red parasols, soup bowls and motorbikes below. Hand-painted in deep blues, greens, reds and earth tones, the carved relief gives the scene a physical depth that no print could replicate. The Vietnamese flag flies from the temple wall. The city feeds itself beneath it. One of the most detailed pieces in the collection.
Hao Sy Phuong - Ground Floor View
Status: SOLD | 40 x 60cm
A deep perspective view down a Saigon hẻm — tube houses leaning inward, pot plants crowding the edges, a lone cockerel in the foreground and a strip of blue sky above. The re-carved relief pushes the perspective into genuine three dimensions, the receding alleyway drawing the eye deep into the wood itself. Hand-painted in blues, greens and warm earth tones. Sold from the gallery's first exhibition of relief works.
