Working Methods 4: Printed Panels In Progress

All Images:  Work In Progress.  Acrylics, Paper Collage, Ink, Spray Enamel,  Adhesive Tape,
Pencil, Coloured Pencil, Ballpoint Pen, Various Solvents & Screen Print On panel.  Leicester
Print Workshop, July 2016

Like most artists, I spend a lot of mental energy reflecting not just on what my work may or may not express, but the nuts and bolts of how it might do it too.  In fact, for many, the desire to explore a particular medium or range of technique may often be sufficient motivation alone to embark on a particular project - whilst the more nebulous stuff takes care of itself, (or is taken care of by others).

I’d estimate that, for me, considerations over why I’ve made something and how I’ve gone about it are in a roughly equal balance currently.  Actually, what interests me particularly is that the two things seem to be blurring into each other quite a lot.  Thus, the list of possible themes that might run through current efforts, itself includes ideas about hybridisation; the mutation of images, or their recycling or translation through different forms; and the ways that Process and the technologies of production might rub up against potential meaning.

If that all sounds a bit grand or over-cerebral, let’s just say I’m really enjoying exploring new media, these days, - whenever the opportunity arises.  We all end up with our own favoured ways of working, but it seems healthy to consider any medium as, at least available; possibly appropriate; ideally of equal validity; and most definitely - an opportunity to explore exciting new territory.  My forays into screen-printing definitely fit that agenda, and are something I’ve already discussed here in recent months.

I have much respect for the wealth of skill and experience I’ve witnessed around me on recent visits to Leicester Print Workshop.  However, I’ve probably always suspected I’m less likely to become a purist printmaker (admirable though that is), than to be searching for ways to incorporate print into hybridised forms - or as one facet of a multidisciplinary practice.

In a small way, the images here illustrate that impulse.  They feature my recent attempts to print onto a series of small panels - already prepared using my familiar (and itself somewhat hybridised) painting/collage procedure.  The chosen motifs were themselves extracted digitally from three different photographs, thus building in another layer of process, and a set of four stencils produced which could be combined in a slightly different way each time.  What I ended up with is a series of eight pieces, (actually it’s two sub-series of four with some crossover between) in which certain motifs recur in varying configurations.  It’s really just another take on that, ‘The Same But Different’ shtick, I’ve been harping on about for a while.

There were one or two practical issues to get around, and I should thank Kate the LPW Technician for her input at this point.  In fact, the trickiest connundrum was something I hadn’t predicted - involving the PVA on my panels being remoistened just enough, by the application of ink, that some wanted to glue themselves to the screen.  Luckily, a solution was found and the whole set of eight panels completed over one afternoon of prepping screens and sussing-out - followed by a marathon nine-hour session of pulling prints, cleaning screens and repeatedly changing colours.  Trust me to choose the two hottest days of the year!

No Need To Wait For Stuff To Dry On The Hottest Day Of The Year.

Anyway, it’s all been worth it as I’m generally pleased with the overall result.  If nothing else I’ve proved to myself that it’s a perfectly feasible thing to attempt, and is a method I might exploit further in future projects.  Most importantly, bar a bit of final titivating, it means I now have at least four separate, but related, series of work from which to select for the exhibition I’ll hang with Shaun Morris and Andrew Smith, in a few weeks.  It’s good to know there should be no last minute concern over quantity, leaving a bit of much-needed time/energy to focus on the other practicalities of getting a show up.  We’ve agreed a title (all will be revealed), and are starting to gear up over supporting material, publicity, etc.  Watch this space...