Silkscreens

I print silkscreens in related series and layers – the way I print isn’t the way most people do it – I’m using it as a painting technique – so the goal isn’t an edition of x number of identical prints, but a series of related, but individual pieces.

I love silkscreen because you can make a number of pieces quickly and see clearly what works and what doesn’t. It’s an organic process where pieces build upon each other; when some are completed I’ll pull those and add in new blanks. There isn’t really a beginning or an end to a series, but there are marked breaks in color or type here and there. Also, it’s a wonderful medium to work in because you can get a really fine degree of control over transparency and opacity.

Winter 2008
Click on the thumbnails above for a larger version
11×14″, silkscreen and enamel on wood, $150 each

I’d first started working on these paintings about three years ago, silkscreening layer upon layer upon layer; then I screened an opaque cream layer over almost the entire surface and didn’t quite know what to do with them so they sat in the back of the closet for a while. When I decided to work on them again I started by sanding the panels and discovered beautiful colors/patterns in them. I then did a single layer of silkscreen on top, in black – it’s the line drawing with the text from a chant, “I am love and you are love, we are love, all is love.” The enamel detailing brought them together and added a beautiful contrast between the creamy matte background and a more colorful and shiny foreground.

Compared to some of the earlier pieces you can see by scrolling down, these four new pieces are fairly simple and quiet.

These four are all printed on surfaced board (easier to print on than canvas because you have to back canvas before you can print on it, and if it’s already stretched there are problems with the stretcher bars).

This one is interesting because it has an extra layer of transparent colors that the other three in the series don’t have. I was actually starting to print my next series, and was laying down these transparent yellow/pink/orange (two color flood) rectangles, and thought they’d look good on this piece.

This piece, like the other three, is a combination of printed image (color), and hand painted in areas using silkscreen ink (greys).

Galaxy 1 – Presence and Absence

Dimensions – 16″x20″ silkscreen on board

Cost – $250 each

This piece is an example of two techniques, the large shapes are papercuts that are burned directly on the lightbox, the swirls and dots were computer drawn and then silkscreened.

Green Gecko

Dimensions – 16″x20″, silkscreen on board

Cost – $250

These next four prints are on paper (out of a larger print run), on pages from an old Christies auction catalogue. I like printing on these because they use great paper (it’s got a wonderful slight gloss and is a heaver stock), and I it’s a bit of my own commentary on the industry of the art world where so often the art and artist is, if not irrelevant, close to it. I also love working with text in my prints, so this was an interesting experiment. With these, I was really trying to keep things simple (something of a challenge for me), so they are only two print layers. The bright colored shapes are paper cuts, the blue swirls and dots are drawn on the computer.

Series Title – “Post-War [Day Sale]“

Size – 8″x10″

Cost – unframed, $50 each

This next set of four images (also from a larger series) is from a different Christies auction catalogue (same idea though). It was a similar challenge in keeping the imagery very clean and simple, also only using two print layers (although three colors through a bleed). This series actually came first.

Series Title: “Impressionist and Modern Art [Evening Sale]“

8″x10″

Cost – unframed, $50 each

The next four images are a series of silkscreens on paper with a number of print layers. I’m guessing there are probably 5 or 6 layers underneath the top print in black – it’s a little hard to tell because most screens are printed one color at a time, but you can flood with multiple colors so sometimes it’s hard to count back the layers. You can see this in the teal and blue layer of lines and squares – two colors printed at the same time from one silkscreen. The sheets are from an old graphic design “shop talk” magazine (can’t think of the name of it right now – but loved the paper they used – it holds the ink wonderfully). They’re each about 8″x10″.

Series Title: “Bright Lights”

8″x10″

Cost – unframed, $50 each

The next four pieces are all small, post-card sized. A friend and teacher, Peter Hristoff, was working on a project with the Moon and Stars project which promotes Turkish artists, involving sending postcards between artists in the US and Turkey. So – the one that I sent wasn’t one of these four, but it looked a lot like them…