Printopia: How and Why do Artists use print?
In contemporary art, artists can accumulate different roles; fragmenting and
adapting other art works, printmaking, performing, photography and filmmakingare just a few strategies available. Successful artists from Ai Wei Wei to
Anselm Kiefer and Damien Hirst aremulti channel entrepreneurs. Print is part of
the mix.
The Industrial Revolution had a huge impact on art and artists. During the
nineteenth century, painting and sculpture came to be seen as extensions of the
artist’s body, and highly individual. The work of an artist was not ‘alienated’ - in
contrast to industrial factory labour.
As publishers became adept at reproducing mass media images, some artists
seemed to move backwards, seeking out the special qualities of prints made by
hand, particularly etching. The technique had been widely adopted to make fine
prints available to a growing audience of art collectors.The 19th century vogue for
printmaking introduced the world to new ‘limited edition’ marketing techniques.
The distribution of prints to middle class homesgave printmakers the choice to
produce a very limited or much larger print run.
In the 20th century, printmaking, with its portability, flexible formats, relative
affordability, and collaborative environment, was a catalyst in exchanging ideas.
It was also a focus for the articulation of political resistance.
For 21st century artists, printmaking has a number of advantages and
applications. Contemporary artists like Jeff Koons eliminate traces of manual
work. The audience no longer sees the interaction between artist and materials
as a critical part of an art work.
However, in printmaking these interactions are often very important- the
production of slightly different multiples; experimenting with different versions,
working collaboratively - can all be advantages. In a world where so much
cultural content is freely and anonymously available, the possibility for individual
printmakers to retain control of authorship and speak to audiences directly is
attractive. Increasingly, printmakers can be seen as part of the collaborative
‘Maker’ community, as well as part of the fine art world, with print studios
sometimes also functioning as ‘makerspaces’.
Intaglio
‘Intaglio’ comes from the Italian ‘intagliare’ meaning to engrave. Developed in
Europe following the introduction of block printing from China, Intaglio has its
origins in the decorative metalwork techniques used by fourteenth century
jewellers and armour makers. The term is used to describe a ‘family’ of print
techniques employed by artists exploiting the principle that ink, trapped in small
groves in a metal plate, can be transferred to paper under extreme pressure. The
incised line or sunken area holds the ink – so intaglio is the opposite of a relief
print.
Etching
While the drawing styles, and artistic interests Lucien Freud (4) and Peter
Klucick (1) differ significantly, they share a common approach - drawing with a
needle to scratch fine lines into a protective coating covering a metal sheet.
When the metal plate is immersed and etched in acid these fine lines are 'eaten
away' to create thin grooves that trap the ink that is subsequently transferred to
paper.
Paula Rego (5) and Frederic Morris (2) use a variant of the etching process
called aquatint,which employs a fine acid resistant powder to create tonal effects
similar to the qualities of watercolour. Tonal variation is achieved by leaving
unprotected areas of the plate in the acid for different lengths of time. The longer
the plate is submerged in acid the deeper the 'bite' and darker the printed tone.
Mezzotint
Aoife Layton (6) employs a technique called mezzotint (from the Italian mezzotinto meaning half-tone) in which the plate surface is roughened to hold an even
quantity of ink that will print as a pure dense black. The image is then produced
by progressively smoothing the plate surface to create increasingly lighter tones.
Images made by this method are typically set against a dark background and
consist of tone without lines.
Polymer
Images transferred to the printing plate photographically can also be printed by
the intaglio process. Nicola Thomas (7) employs a contemporary industrial
material, polymer plates, to create images with the intention to 'recapture,
reinterpret and renew familiar narratives'.
Relief Prints
Relief printing directly from a carved surface was invented in China circa 100
A.D. It travelled to the west in the fourteenth century, andis still commonly used
by artists today. Paul Peter Piech (9) used lino to produce bold low cost posters
with minimal use of colour. Anita Klein (7, 8) also uses lino to develop more
complex colour combinations in striking images of everyday life and domestic
intimacies.
Following its use by Swedish artist animators at Rorke’s Drift, in the 1960s, an
arts centre was established in Zulu Natal next to the battlefield. At this centre, a
number of artists developed their work primarily through print, producing black
and white lino prints with a strong social commentary - part of the struggle
against apartheid.Southern African artists gained international recognition for
their work. More recently, Namibian artists, including Papa Shikongeni (10)
have continued this tradition producing extraordinarily vibrant prints, substituting
cardboard for relatively expensive lino, frequently using domestic paint instead of
ink, and employing a bag as their printing press.
19th and 20th Century Print Revivals
Rapid technological progress in the nineteenth century printing industry made
earlier print techniques obsolete. Printing now because a serious pastime for
wealthy and middle-class hobbyists, including Queen Victoria. This development
corresponded to the use of etching among artists such as the Barbizon School
who worked directly from nature. This movement flourished from the mid
nineteenth century to the depression of the 1930s, and laid the foundations of
contemporary artists' printmaking. A marketing strategy was developed to
increase values by artificially limiting edition numbers, and 'Won't you come up
to see my etchings?' became a saucy catch phrase. Following the Wall Street
Crash in 1929, artist’s printmaking virtually collapsed until its resurgence in
1960s pop culture.
In the immediate aftermath of the Cuban Revolution, staff at the Havana branch
of the J. Walter Thompson advertising company pledged their support to the new
regime. This gave rise to a 'branding' strategy that employed pop-style imagery
to promote the ideals and culture of the 'New Cuba'. The posters by painter and
graphic artist Raul Martinez (12) are some of most widely know examples of this
genre. Ironically, Martinez undertook this work as a freelancer after not being
permitted to teach because of his homosexuality.
During the 1960s and 70s, screenprinting, which provided the capacity to make
large scale brightly coloured posters and works on paper for little capital
investment gained popularity as a medium for protest and social activism
internationally. The feminist group See Red (11) was one of a number of Londonbased groups that emerged during this period. Paddington Printshop (now
londonprintstudio) co-founded by John Phillips (13) was another organisation
making socially engaged work in west London.
In the mainstream, many artists including Joe Tilson (19), turned to screenprint,
and pop imagery. These were often accompanied by experiments with 'multiple'
artworks created through industrial processes such as vacuum forming. Painters
such as Sandra Blow (27) worked closely with production studios to create
prints that competed in impact and scale with painting on canvas.
3D Printing
Ronald King (17) frequently employs embossing and die cutting to create 3
dimensional prints and books and Fiona Hepburn (14,15,16) uses assembly to
construct individual objects from scores of printed objects.
Artists at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UWE (18) have been exploring
the creative potential of three dimensional printing. The following artists are
included in the display cabinet:- David Huson, Katie Vaughan, Stephen Hoskins,
Verity Lewis, Peter Walters, Katie Davies and Peter Ting.
Scarabs
2014-15
Designed and printed by David Huson and Katie Vaughan
Artefacts from a research project into the 3D printing of ceramic bodies
investigating the possibilities of using techniques developed by the ancient
Egyptians to produce a 3D printed ceramic body that will glaze itself during a
single firing process.
The two methods used in ancient Egypt to enable self-glazing in one firing are
efflorescence glazing and cementation glazing.
Lattice Pyramids
2014
Designed by David Huson
The Pyramids have been 3D printed in a University of the West of England
patented porcelain ceramic material and are biscuit fired and glazed in the
conventional manner.
Deruta Bowl
2014
Designed by Stephen Hoskins
Inspired by hand-decorated majolica bowls from the 16th century Italian school of
ceramics, this early digitally-printed research piece by Hoskins was a 2dimensional development of the underside of an Italian Renaissance bowl.
Skull
2011
Designed by Verity Lewis with Peter Walters and David Huson
Printed in plaster
The Skull is a test piece in 3D printing.
Object and Illusion in Print
2010
Designed by Peter Walters
Printed in plaster .
Vela Pulsar
2010
Polyamide 3D print
Designed by Peter Walters and Katie Davies
This sculpture was created through the transformation of astrophysical data into
tangible 3D form. The sculpture was 3D printed from a signal, detected by a radio
telescope, which emanates from a distant star – a pulsar – located in the
constellation of Vela, some 950 light years from Earth. The resulting 3D printed
sculpture is a translation of the signal from the pulsar – a 3D manifestation of the
pulsar itself, and a direct translation of sound into visual representation.
Bristol Teacup
2011-12
Designed by Peter Ting and printed by Peter Walters and David Huson
This double walled, pierced teacup has been 3D printed in a University of the
West of England patented porcelain ceramic material and biscuit fired and glazed
in the conventional manner.
Lithography
Following the invention of lithography in the late eighteenth century, printmaking
and the graphic arts were transformed. Based on the incompatibility of water and
oil, and utilizing a polished limestone block as a substrate on which to draw,
lithography was the first printing process to truly capture and reproduce the
expressive qualities of hand drawn images and rich tonal variety. The most
famous images using this process are Toulouse-Lautrec’s colourful posters of
Parisian night life.
Stone lithography continued to be used commercially well in to the twentieth
century when it was displaced by photographic methods of reproduction. The
technique survived due to the dedication of a handful of artist practitioners and
master printers and saw considerable revival in the pop art movement in
America. Sadly in the UK teaching and support for the technique has dwindled
and apart from londonprintstudio, very few open access studios offer training
and access to this exciting medium.
The surface of the stone is chemically altered so that the image area becomes
attracted to grease, and the non-image area becomes attracted to water. Unlike
intaglio or relief printing, where the physical surface of the plate or block in
changed, in lithography, it is the chemical nature of surface that is changed. This
is how it got the name “chemical printing”. In this exhibition we see a variety of
approaches to the direct drawing opportunities provided by the medium in the
work of Meg Buick (24) Sarah Duncan, Beauvais Lyons (22) , Darren van der
Merwe (21), Robert Miles (20) and Lucy Farley (23) along side the photo litho
work of Sarah Duncan (25)
Digital Printmaking
During the past two decades technological developments in inkjet printing have
opened new creative possibilities enabling artists to edit, reconstruct or otherwise
fabricate photographic 'realities' as in the work of Jo Ganter (28) and Rebecca
Beardmore (29) or as in the print by James Faure-Walker (26), to draw directly
into the computer software.
Thérèse Oulton (30,31,32,33,34,35,36)
The exhibition includes a small selection of works in screenprint, monoprint,
intaglio and inkjet, by just one artist Thérèse Oulton. These works, some made at
the studio, show how these different media can be manipulated to bring a subtly
different emphasis to an individual hand.