July 27, 2012

A New Cardboard Print: "Four Shapes"

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. 

11 comments:

  1. a meditative exercise that can be meditated on. yes, your work brings smiles to our faces & our hearts.

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  2. These 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...)

    You'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.

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    1. 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.
      Blinky Palermo actually took that name (he was born Peter Schwarze) from a Mafia boxing promoter.
      Sounds like fun to make stamps with children.

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  3. 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?

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    1. Thanks, 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.

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  4. Love 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.

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    1. SRH, 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.

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  5. These are very nice. The medium creates "imperfections" of line and line width that really emphasize the perfection of the overall geometry.

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  6. Thanks Ravenna and Michael. There is something about the informality of the medium that is very appealing to me, in concert with the geometry.

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