News
In Print, a solo exhibition of recent monoprints and collagraphs will open March 3, 2012 at Soren Christensen Gallery, 400 Julia Street, New Orleans, and run until March 31st.
www.sorenchristensen.com
www.sorenchristensen.com
Statement for In Print Mar. 3-31, 2012, Soren Christensen Gallery
The ability to reproduce an original document or picture has shaped history by facilitating information dissemination. In visual art the print became a way to economically reproduce an image for commercial, political, educational and/or fine art purposes. Over time, printmaking processes have changed technologically with respect to their mechanics. For example, the contemporary fine art prints runs the gamut from traditional intaglio, relief and lithography methods to digital photography, collaborative methods, three-dimensional works, installations and more, in order to produce an art that is specific to the chosen medium. Information dissemination via printing has diminished as television, video, the Internet and other new technologies gain ground. Still, fine art printmaking remains, a testament to its unique characteristics unattainable by any other means. The contemporary print exists for the artist as a form of expression, neither less nor more important than other modes of expression. Though the distinguishing feature of a print is that it is produced by means of a separate printing surface, (the matrix), the fact that it interposes a step between the artist's hand and the image does not diminish it.
Though I am also a painter, the exciting surfaces and the endless array of mark-making that printmaking affords attracts me. This, and working within the parameter of a given, the existing matrix, is harmonious with my temperament. The idea that an image can be exactly replicated in an edition does not interest me, so I print for uniqueness and the unexpected. Certainly the best printmakers can anticipate and control their results, but there is still an element of surprise, as the directly painted mark looks different than the same gesture transferred through the printing process. The permutations and combinations made possible by using different inks, colors, and papers on the same plate I continue to find engaging.
In Print is an exhibition of my recent monoprints. I explore the imagery of plates combined in different ways. The repeatable matrices that I use are made of carborundum combined with gel medium. This fluid mixture is painted onto an aluminum plate, and is called a collagraph plate. I manipulate the images through the use of chine colle papers that have first been printed with drawn, stamped, painted or stenciled marks. (Chine colle derives from French and roughly translated means glued tissue). The resulting monoprints are then used as background papers for the main image on the aluminum plate. The chine colle paper is simultaneously glued to the base paper as the inked collagraph plate passes through the press. In this particular series of work one can see the different ways I have combined the collagraph plates in order to create new images, and how the unique background papers change the work. (Please ask Soren Christensen to show you the portfolio of loose prints for further comparison).
Interestingly, I have found that the current prints are influencing a painted series. The back and forth that results conceptually, mechanically, and visually between printmaking and painting is a momentum in my work; it keeps me moving and growing in ways and means.
January 2012
The ability to reproduce an original document or picture has shaped history by facilitating information dissemination. In visual art the print became a way to economically reproduce an image for commercial, political, educational and/or fine art purposes. Over time, printmaking processes have changed technologically with respect to their mechanics. For example, the contemporary fine art prints runs the gamut from traditional intaglio, relief and lithography methods to digital photography, collaborative methods, three-dimensional works, installations and more, in order to produce an art that is specific to the chosen medium. Information dissemination via printing has diminished as television, video, the Internet and other new technologies gain ground. Still, fine art printmaking remains, a testament to its unique characteristics unattainable by any other means. The contemporary print exists for the artist as a form of expression, neither less nor more important than other modes of expression. Though the distinguishing feature of a print is that it is produced by means of a separate printing surface, (the matrix), the fact that it interposes a step between the artist's hand and the image does not diminish it.
Though I am also a painter, the exciting surfaces and the endless array of mark-making that printmaking affords attracts me. This, and working within the parameter of a given, the existing matrix, is harmonious with my temperament. The idea that an image can be exactly replicated in an edition does not interest me, so I print for uniqueness and the unexpected. Certainly the best printmakers can anticipate and control their results, but there is still an element of surprise, as the directly painted mark looks different than the same gesture transferred through the printing process. The permutations and combinations made possible by using different inks, colors, and papers on the same plate I continue to find engaging.
In Print is an exhibition of my recent monoprints. I explore the imagery of plates combined in different ways. The repeatable matrices that I use are made of carborundum combined with gel medium. This fluid mixture is painted onto an aluminum plate, and is called a collagraph plate. I manipulate the images through the use of chine colle papers that have first been printed with drawn, stamped, painted or stenciled marks. (Chine colle derives from French and roughly translated means glued tissue). The resulting monoprints are then used as background papers for the main image on the aluminum plate. The chine colle paper is simultaneously glued to the base paper as the inked collagraph plate passes through the press. In this particular series of work one can see the different ways I have combined the collagraph plates in order to create new images, and how the unique background papers change the work. (Please ask Soren Christensen to show you the portfolio of loose prints for further comparison).
Interestingly, I have found that the current prints are influencing a painted series. The back and forth that results conceptually, mechanically, and visually between printmaking and painting is a momentum in my work; it keeps me moving and growing in ways and means.
January 2012
