In blue jeans and wrinkled shirt, his feet bare, Bull looks the part of the disheveled artist. But he is quick to challenge this association. I'm not an artist. I do not create my designs. They use the woodblock print as a form of artistic expression to introduce a range of subjects and styles.
Emotion plays a more important role.
It's a different kind of thing. I am simply a craftsman working toward a higher level in my craft. At the same time, Bull says he works from a different perspective than the 40 or so members of the Tokyo Association of Woodblock Printmaking Craftsmen, who are also committed to the old style of printmaking. As dictated by tradition, woodblock carving and printing are handled by separate craftsmen, each painstakingly trained in his own discipline. David Bull is the only member of the group doing both.