Still Stoned

Absences are getting a bit protracted but have been under some pressure and that doesn't relent because next week is Progress Review and it is a question of getting a body of work together ; I feel the work has been done but one still wants to present it as well as possible.

Still working on the stone and now have the third image drawn and first etched; other things are happening as well but lets just have a look at the litho work first:

 

This is the second  litho...

 

.......together with all its proofs

 

 

Here are the drawings for the third image:

 

 

...and here is the stone just before first etch:

 

 

I wont put up anything else for now as thee are other things demanding attention but I will show a few sources over the weekend

 

 

Stoned again

Unfortunately, the prints produced from the last stone were not up to the standard of the proofs as I succumbed to the neophyte's complaint  - impatience : too much ink, too fast; there were one or two reasonable prints there but instead of cleaning off the stone and rolling it up so that I could try it again - I left the printing ink on it and gummed it.

Total sacrilege!  Despite hopeless efforts to remove the ink there was no other course than to regrain the stone and start with another image which I first-etched today:

 

This is the photo and the sketch

 

This is the stone  drawn - it is a lighter image than the last one so lets see if we can treat it a bit more gently in the inking process.

 

Other things:

 

 

 

I haven't relinquished collage and this was one I carried out at home with a series of imaged concerning Lucian Freud whose panting I like but whose treatment of his lovers and daughters leaves something to be desired; I think with my next piece I will return to raw meat a bit more and worms, maybe.

 

Meanwhile work is being done on more of the Façade Edge images preparatory to further exploration:

 

 

These have been put through Threshold on P/S to provide greater contrast for sugar lift or bitumen onto plates through screenprint

 

 

An update on the wall:

 

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The artists' books projects have not gone away and I will update on progress in a while.

 

 

 

 

 

Stick it

Now that was not an invitation to my followers but an indication of what follows - a trifle abstruse?

OK some more pictures from a book of collage, most of which I am reproducing in very large format to try to retain their impact:

 

These two are by Jonathan Hernandez

 

 

 

 

These pieces by Thomas Hirschhorn I really like because of the sharpness and juxtaposition of his imagery and because of his fearlessness in showing the violence that underlies so much of what we look at daily.

 

 

These three are by Kim Jones and I particularly like the use of ink and acrylic over the paperwork; they are not dissimilar to the two from the Geri Allen album a few posts ago

 

 

Henrik Olesen's work has an effect  all the more disturbing for appearing so open when first viewed  - this is only a sample of a very wide practice.

 

Martha Rosler's series of photomontages 'Bringing the War Home: House Beautiful'  have a very specific application in that they relate war to mom, apple pie and all that America does not want associated with war

 

 

 

 

This by Nancy Spero is quite reminiscent of Hannah Hoch but uses more recent technology which would not have been available to Hoch; again Spero's practice is much wider than is apparent here but  this size would not do justice to her other work.

 

 

John Stezaker's speciality is this form of photomontage which inevitably leads to thoughts of schizoid personality and paranoia characteristic of western society in the last fifty years.

 

There are many other artists using various collage techniques very effectively and at a later date I will show some really sharp contemporary work.

 

 

 

Cobblestones

Time to get up to scratch again:

 

Looks dramatic but its only a spillage -however during this week it would probably been an accurate image of my mood; all that resulted from severe knee damage on Sunday which left your correspondent on crutches for a few days but it turned out not to be as serious as initially thought - only a chunk of cartilage in the joint - sore but with a little rest (this weekend) should be back on the train.

Did get in by car to continue work on the stone:

 

This morning having completed first etch proceeded to roll-up and proof:

 

 

 

 Card Proof

 

 

 

Leg was getting sore so decided to leave printing till Monday.

 

Yesterday was the day of the ferocious storm -trees down, power loss, roofs off and while all this was going on we were in at a workshop on sugarlift and bitumen methods of etched print-making, and it is evidence of how interested we were that we barely noticed the storm -just that it was a bit windy.. These two techniques are a really fascinating way of making prints and I will certainly be using one or other fairly soon - probably sugarlift.

Here are some pictures:

 

 

sugared image on aquatinted plate

 

Print

 

Plate after bitumen removed and aquatinted plate etched

print

 

 

The collection

 

 

Some people put sugar mixture on a plate - won't go any farther I think

 

On the way home stopped to snap a couple of post-apocalyptic images:

 

 

 

After the storm

 

 

I talked a lot a week ago about the artists' book course so here is one I made as a result:

 

 

 

Not perfect by any means but its a start - not must decide on contents.

 

I am glad I have got to making a print again even though it is only a proof but I feel like this project now has legs.

 

I have been looking at a lot of books on collage recently so over the weekend I will put up some of the images I have collected.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Path of Pop and PCP

Perhaps it could also be called the Alley of Alliteration.....

During the weekend I was digging around in the vinyl vaults and I came across this which I hadn't played for a very long time and had forgotten - particularly the title and sleeve:

 

This is a wonderful album by the pianist Geri Allen who I once saw live in Liberty Hall Theatre (great venue) . All I can find out about the cover art is that it was designed by someone called Claus Peter Bauerle and about him I can discover nothing - front looks like etching and aquatint and back like litho.

Terrifying to think that I bought this new in 1985.

 

There was a piece in the Guardian review on Richard Hamilton:

 

Just what is it that makes today's homes so different and appealing?  - Collage on paper- 1956

 

..who,in some quarters is credited with giving Pop Art its name, although I believe he always rejected this himself. Nonetheless, he was certainly a very formative influence and his work was always fascinating and it is timely that Tate Modern are having an exhibition starting Thursday - I will try to see it when I am in London in March.

Here is one I have always liked:

 

 - 1958

Hers is a Lush Situation - Oil,cellulose, metal sheet, collage on panel

 

Interestingly, looking through my books on pop brought to attention  a few artists who could have some input into the ultimate production of the Façade Edge project - Duane Hanson and Richard Estes ans even possibly James Rosenquist. I will come back to them again