This weekend I’ve been a little disappointed that I couldn’t attend the Video Art Festival in Athens (too short notice), I decided to throw myself headfirst in to making some prints, which I’ve put off for a while.
Mid print-run, I heard the postman knock at the door – the “Place, Identity and Memory” catalogue had arrived. I have a book of prints in the exhibition which starts next week in Dumfries. My book is based on the ‘Rivesaltes. Shoah’ series of videos, see Post 8. The catalogue is a thing of beauty, hand-bound with origami-style fold-outs showcasing each of the 70 books. Unfortunately I couldn’t hold the catalogue immediately as I was covered in ink.
The few days printing were tiring, but rewarding. I made four plates, carborundum on aluminium – printing on Whatman, which is always exciting as the ink seems to ‘enter’ the paper which still remains luminous. I was most pleased by the prints which were totally dark (‘RSA. PI.’), the delineation of form is dependent on the contrast of the carborundum lines (the ink rested on the surface of the paper) with the spaces in between (ink which was pressed into the paper).
Once the print-run was finished, I decided to turn the plates in to finished works – the results being much more visually dramatic than the prints! Both the plates and prints have their own merits though. This week it’s back to less exciting work, cleaning the prints.
