Four Shapes, ink on Gampi smooth paper, from cardboard plates; ed. 5; 4 pieces, paper size each 14 x 12 1/2 in., image size variable, ca. 3-5 x 6 in.
Four simple shapes, four colors, on four sheets; three shapes tilting, and one, a vertical oval, standing stalwart.
Blinky Palermo, 4 Prototypes (4 Prototypen), 1970; portfolio of 4 screenprints, sheet each 23 5/8 x 23 5/8 in.
The inspiration for this work came from the first work I'd seen by Blinky Palermo (images here; my blog post on textiles of mine he inspired here). I saw them in the mid to late 80s on 57th St., a set of prints that stopped me in my tracks. I loved their offhandedness, the classic forms made irregular. He's an artist I think about a lot; I even named my male cat Blinky in his honor.
Above are details of the four shapes individually, though I see each of the four as part of one piece. I think I would frame each sheet individually and have the four abut each other, rather than framing them together in a single frame, which is how the Palermo work was shown. They are individuals, yet part of a whole.
This is the palette with the four colors for Four Shapes. I began by mixing the green for the oval shape, warming the cool green ink with lots of yellow and some red, with white to lighten it. When I mixed the remaining colors, I added some of the green to each of them, red to the blue and yellow, etc. In this way, I moved the colors away from their primary expression to something more harmonious, yet still lively. I'm happy with this work; it makes me smile.
a meditative exercise that can be meditated on. yes, your work brings smiles to our faces & our hearts.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, frances!
DeleteThese are a fascinating direction for your prints. I could have never imagined such intricate detail from potato prints. Together with the inspiration from Blinky's work (and how can one avoid smiling at his name?) I see your study of the Tantric prints. The gampi paper and the isolation of the forms on the page speaks of a wonderful quiet.(Fun paradox...)
ReplyDeleteYou've inspired me to start making my own stamps for the kids at work. We're going to experiment with them today: patterns made donated sheets of 1/4" foam.
I'm glad you like these Hannah. They are not potato prints; they are printed from corrugated cardboard prints, like several I've done previously. I am going to change the title of this post because it seems that several people are confused.
DeleteBlinky Palermo actually took that name (he was born Peter Schwarze) from a Mafia boxing promoter.
Sounds like fun to make stamps with children.
These are so great. I'm just curious, do you treat the cardboard with any kind of medium or anything, or just ink up directly on the cardboard?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jessyca. I do put a coat of acrylic gloss medium on the cardboard after cutting the plate. It definitely helps with the printing, and keeps the cardboard from absorbing ink.
DeleteLove how it blobs on the end of the lines.. they read as 3 dimensional.. amazing what the mind and eye will do with simple elements.
ReplyDeleteSRH, I wonder if the blobs happen because of the way I'm pressing with the baren. It's so interesting that you see these as three dimensional, a relief image from a relief print.
Deleteyes; this makes me smile too!
ReplyDeleteThese are very nice. The medium creates "imperfections" of line and line width that really emphasize the perfection of the overall geometry.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ravenna and Michael. There is something about the informality of the medium that is very appealing to me, in concert with the geometry.
ReplyDelete