Click on the images of each individual work (in the three views below) to see a large image of that work.
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Click on the images of each individual work (in the three views below) to see a large image of that work.
Printmaking seduced me from the start by its division into the separate yet related processes of creation of a matrix, and printing that matrix. I love the combination of the plate making, with rapid, pronounced, impetuous gestures, and lots of freedom to experiment, with a meticulous, controlled printing process – possibly with the help of a master printer. The possibilities are so manifold, from plate-making to printing, with its layering of colors in multiple passages, and this experimentation can be done with a fair amount of reliability, yielding a way to approach the ideal, step by step, by repeating and perfecting.
The 'Messages', my 2001 print series, are characterized by:
- their calligraphic, symbolic, almost written forms -- in an alphabet, or rather, a pictographic language, which is unknown, personal and involuntary -- translating messages coming from my unconscious;
- their interplay of plates cut up and juxtaposed, marrying various textures and printmaking techniques;
- chinese calligraphy as one of my inspirations, as much for its abstract symbolism and for the graphic force of its characters in its many stylistic variations, as for the vigor and individuality of each trait;
- my exploration of the intensive re-utilisation of plates, and the fascination I have for the resulting evolution of the printed image. Each of the 'Messages' incorporates plates already used -- scraped, gouged, reworked, cut into pieces. I find that a already worked plate is a more inspiring starting point than a blank plate, and the concepts of connection and evolution in the resulting work are essential for me.