To the Edges is open for visitors again, but if you just can’t make it, here is a video walk through of the show hosted by the curator, Katherine Roberts. The exhibition closes on the 7th of November.
Thanks to Nathan Lewis and Matt Creswell for making the video.
Sydney Printmakers 60th Anniversary Exhibition is opening again for three weeks from Tuesday 12th October to Sunday 7th November. The work has been sitting quietly on the walls for months but now we have another chance to see it.
There may be limits on how many people can enter the gallery at the same time, but its very exciting that we will have another opportunity to visit. Many of us did not get there the first time.
Get your friends together and go and have a look…….Its an excellent show.
Continuing with our series of interviews with artists exhibiting in Sydney Printmakers ‘To the Edges’ at Manly Art Gallery and Museum, we now talk to Rafael Butron.
How does your work address the theme ‘To the Edges’?
Recent unparalleled events Have caused many to live on the edge. The pandemic virus, caused by transmission from one person to another forced many of us into isolation quite rapidly, and for most people came fear and loneliness. Humans caused these events to unfold. The world’s temperature rises and our environment has been thrown. ‘Phases of Isolation‘ is a self portrait that explores three stages of separation, frustration, anxiety and depression. As we value our lives so should we also value the world we live in, by having compassion for one another and a duty of care for our world.
Can you describe the technical process you went through to achieve the finished work and what technical challenges you encountered along the way?
I usually engrave from a drawing on the plate itself using copperplate with a marker pen, then slowly engrave using an engraving tool called a Burin. The technical challenge is to remove all your training, which tends to make the print perfectly executed and use the innate artistic energy to achieve an image, much like action painting. My intention is to incorporate traditional printmaking techniques to create a unique work that has its own spirit.
What do you see as the role of Sydney Printmakers for the next 60 years?
Sydney Printmakers have and always will push printmaking to its limits and with every new member there is an opportunity to develop new engaging works that add to the diversity of the group and ensure its longevity for years to come.
How do you see the role of printmaking, in general, contributing to the conversation about contemporary art practice?
Printmaking has a role to play in contemporary art making as every printmaker has a unique approach to the creation of an image and the variety of mediums allows for an individual interpretation of the subject.
How does your work address the theme “To the Edges“?
2020-21 has been a time full of challenges and during periods of isolation there is time to reflect and consider what is of importance. The varying dynamics of dealing with a new “ Covid 19 “ society has inspired this image. Shifting values, tough decisions and being on edge of so many changes. To be so mindful of what was once just everyday living.
Which way to turn, when to touch, not being allowed to touch & show affection all create a vision of shifting planes and turning points.
Aristotle created a triangle of rhetoric, a way to discuss Ethos – ethical issues, Pathos – compassion and emotion, and Logos, the value of logic. My work “Defining the Edge” also reflects on the dynamics of Aristotle’s triangle.
Can you describe the technical progress you went through to achieve the finished work and what technical challenges you encountered along the way?
My work is a diptych multi block woodblock print created using the traditional techniques of ancient Japanese printing traditions. Registration is of prime importance as there are over 30 blocks carved to create the illusion of transparent overlaps. There are no overlaps in this work as colours are mixed to create the illusion of transparency.
Working an image across 2 individual prints always creates challenges in paper stretch from so much baren work. All the blocks are hand carved in Russian Birch and hand printed on quality Japanese Kozo.
What do you see as the role of Sydney Printmakers for the next 60 years?
I would hope Sydney Printmakers remains a committed group of artists celebrating the dynamics of both traditional print media and new technologies who create a platform for sharing their individual creative talents and also to be challenged as a group to remain effective in the coming years.
How do you see the role of printmaking, in general, contributing to the conversation about contemporary art practice?
I have no doubt that printmaking will continue to be the medium of choice for many contemporary artists. With the success of many international conferences focused on printmaking it is no doubt a popular medium universally.
The greater challenge is to preserve the teaching of traditional practise in our art institutions and for those with the knowledge to be willing to share. We collectively have to continue to preserve what we now have for future generations in our shared knowledge of the print medium.
How does your work address the theme ‘to the edges’?
At first glance my large triptych Ubud Bali and the smaller series of works Snapshots seem to be about the beauty of a place I love dearly. Bali often referred to as the island of the gods is considered a paradise by many, but beyond the lush tropical landscapes and incredible natural beauty of Bali is a troubling reality. Tourism over the past decades has grown so rapidly that many overwhelming problems prevail. Pollution chokes the ocean with rubbish and raw sewage washing up on the beaches. Bad traffic jams are an everyday problem where there are simply to many cars on the existing roadways often resulting in gridlock and sometimes fatal accidents. Many of the tourists are oblivious to the island’s rich culture and history and think of Bali purely as a party destination. High rise buildings and urban sprawl dominate areas that were once humble fishing villages stretching the limits of existing infrastructure. As the world struggles with the Covid 19 pandemic and travel is limited tourists have abandoned Bali almost completely leaving the local community without a way to make a living resulting in great hardship experienced by all. Also Indonesia and Bali are suffering some of the highest Covid 19 infections rates worldwide with inadequate hospitals to treat the sick. As beautiful as Bali still is it is definitely a place pushed to the edges.
Can you describe the technical process you went through to achieve the finished work and what technical challenges you encountered along the way?
The large triptych is done utilising my photographs on photopolymer plates (solarplates) and inking those plates up meticulously with different colours employing the à la poupée technique. I use small paintbrushes to apply the inks and very carefully wipe back the plates to achieve the required effect. Then I hand colour the prints using watercolour pencils and paints.
The smaller works are a series of images attempting to tell a story of what Bali means to me. You will see rice paddy fields, palm trees, a temple, daily offerings left out on the street, a Barong statue, a Ganesh the elephant god statue, a Bali dog lying in the sun, a warung, fishing boats, motorbikes and some local children. I have again used photopolymer plates to create the prints, but also I started experimenting with cyanotypes which is an alternative photographic process first discovered in the early 1800s. I added a little bit of hand colouring in some of the smaller works, but generally these are less laboured compared to my usual prints.
What do you see as the role of Sydney Printmakers for the next 60 years?
It is an incredible feat for Sydney Printmakers to have been active for 60 years. We are a diverse group of artists constantly busy organising exhibitions with an aim to promote printmaking nationally and internationally. We have achieved a great deal in that time and I hope Sydney Printmakers continues to be strong into the future involving a younger generation to carry on for another 60 years and more.
How do you see the role of printmaking, in general, contributing to the conversation about contemporary art practice?
Sydney Printmakers formed in 1961 to address the concerns of artists that printmaking at the time was being neglected and overlooked. The group’s aim was to strongly promote printmaking in general as did the Print Council of Australia that was established in Melbourne around the same time. Today printmaking is strong and continues to play a vital role in the art and culture of our age.
How does your work address the theme ‘to the edges’?
The work is experimental. I had been spending some time with Ruth Burgess, and was impressed and intrigued by her use of colour. I wanted to explore how, by printing just the primaries over one another, I could create a range of secondary and tertiary colours. My process would be revealed at the edges of each of the panels which comprised the work. The decision to print by hand rather than the press literally expresses the theme, since the printer must move the baren right to the edges of the paper to make each print.
Can you describe the technical process you went through to achieve the finished work and what technical challenges you encountered along the way?
I decided to avoid imagery as much as possible, so as to concentrate on the most important factors: colour and luminosity. To achieve luminosity within each print, I glued fabric over plywood and chose to print the plates in relief. This meant that the white of the paper showed through the weave of the fabric to enliven the colour on each print. The decision to print the work by hand was made to allow for incidental marks and imperfections to contribute to the work.
It was only part way through the printing process that I discovered that the way the plywood base of the plates was constructed had produced two bands on each print as a variation in the surface. The hand printing was challenging physically and technically since I am a quite recent convert to printing with a baren,but I realised the flaws in the printing gave the work a liveliness that wouldn’t be present had I opted for another process.
To begin with, I envisioned that the work would have 15 elements, but realised as I progressed through the making of the piece that I could have expanded it much further, although the size of the finished piece would have been even more unwieldy.
I had to confine it within arbitrary parameters, so I created a formula to work to. The constraints I set myself were
to use two plates only
to use yellow red and blue ink only, ie no colour mixing
to use four layers of ink on each print
to print by hand with a baren
Working at that scale was a challenge. The first time I was able to see the work as a whole was after it was installed on the gallery wall and appropriately lit. It is too large to fit on my studio wall.
What do you see as the role of Sydney Printmakers for the next 60 years?
I expect Sydney Printmakers to continue to attract members dedicated to excellence in the medium of print. ‘To the Edges’ demonstrates that the organisation welcomes experimentation, exploration and creativity within the medium of printmaking, and I think that is its strength.
How do you see the role of printmaking, in general, contributing to the conversation about contemporary art practice?
Printmakers have always been interested in new technologies, in new ways of responding to the world. I feel that printmaking will always have a place in contemporary art practice because it continues to evolve. Witness some of the prints in ‘To the Edges’ which explore the edges of contemporary practice.
Anna Russell has been selected for this exhibition at No Vacancy Gallery, Melbourne.
resist/relief takes the technical language of making, conceptualising this process to create a duality between these two forms.
The resist technique exposes and endures, withstanding corrosive agents to continually occupy space. The artists in this exhibition have responded to this theme through works that reflect acts of resistance; be they highly visible social issues that are crying for action, or smaller acts of everyday resistance that would otherwise go unseen.
Acts of resistance, however, require us to practice self-care. Relief techniques carve out a space that offers clarity and calm. Artists have considered the ways in which we look after ourselves within resistance. This has taken the form of whatever acts of self-care mean or look like to them.
Anna Russell
Plants resist by persisting. They start out soft and flexible, but can become so determined and irresistible that they move mountains. An encouraging exemplar for artists.
The text embedded in the prints offers some relief in the zeitgeist of the climate emergency. It offers hope through resistance to ecological and social injustice – if only we realise the urgency. Is there another exemplar in the print studio? The chemicals we use to resist can be swept aside when they are no longer fit for purpose (hopefully without solvents).
My prints are in relief. The plates used are waferboard, woodblock, photopolymer and etched zinc, a nod to plates usually reserved for intaglio printing.
Boundary Relief print (unique state) 29 x 26cm
Here are some shots of installation of the Sydney Printmakers show at Manly Art Gallery and Museum. Katherine Roberts and her team did a wonderful job.
Unfortunately we are now under lockdown, so no sooner was the show opened than it had to shut down again. Please go and see it when the lockdown ends.
We await news about whether, when, and in what form the Artists in Conversation with Katherine Roberts will go ahead, but unless the lockdown is extended, the demonstrations should still happen.
60 years of Sydney Printmakers
25 June – 1 August 2021
Manly Art Gallery & Museum
West Esplanade Reserve, Manly
9976 1421 | artgallery@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au 10am – 5pm, Tue – Sun | Free entry magam.com.au | Instagram @magamnsw
Photos courtesy of Neilton Clarke, Angela Hayson, Lea Kannar.
Ros has received a wonderful review from Sasha Grishin in the Canberra Times for her Exhibition at Megalo.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7256546/complex-and-astounding-stillness/
