CROSSING BOUNDARIES A PROCESS-BASED EXPLORATION OF THE MULTIPLE IDENTITIES OF THE PRINT
First published on the occasion of the exhibition 10x10 Crossing Boundaries 17 June until 3 July 2013 Northart Gallery Ernie Mays Street Northcote Shopping Centre Auckland, New Zealand 31 January until 25 February 2014 Taylor Jensen Fine Arts 33 George Street Palmerston North Manawatu-Wanganui, New Zealand 26 June until 8 July 2014 Gaffa Gallery 281 Clarence Street Sydney, Australia Š The artists, authors and photographers. All rights reserved. Apart from fair dealing permitted under the copyright act, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Australian artists Geraldine Berkemeier Anthea Boesenberg Helen Mueller Janet Parker Smith Gary Shinfield New Zealand artists Jacqueline Aust Kathy Boyle Dr Carole Shepheard Lynn Taylor Dr Kathryn Wightman Jacqueline Aust Kathy Boyle Dr Carole Shepheard Lynn Taylor Dr Kathryn Wightman
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INTRODUCTION
01_ Anthea Boesenberg Time Study 2013 (detail) Rust and tea on paper Dimensions: 3 works, each x 65 x 110cm Courtesy and © the artist Photograph by Sait Akkirman
The ‘10x10’ exhibition features print-related artefacts resulting from the research of 10 artists (5 from Australia and 5 from New Zealand) who have been selected for their readiness and ability to move between materials and media without boundaries. The unifying concept of ‘10x10’ is a process-based exploration of the multiple identity of the print. This exploration is activated through expanding the close relationship between the second and third dimension in printmaking. The artists will be challenged to investigate a range of new and old technologies and materials, alone and in combination, through imagination, experimentation and innovation to resolution. Print works from ‘10x10’ have leapt out of the frame with the exploration of larger images, new technologies, digital printing, three dimensional forms and alternative supports. The exhibition of these works aims to reveal some of the new horizons in print.
JACQUELINE AUST
01_ Jacqueline Aust Totems to a repeated mark 2013 Etching on Hahnemuhle 300gsm, cardboard, nylon cloth ties Dimensions variable Courtesy and © the artist In the collection of Te Manawa Museum of Art, Science and History, Palmerston North, New Zealand Photograph by Jacqueline Aust
There is nothing that says ‘I am here’ as simply or directly as a gestural mark. Such autographic marks express a sense of individuality, captured in a moment. In an art world where print is ubiquitous, printmaking discussions are constantly peppered with questions about the mechanics of production, about what is original and what is copy, and about the autographic effect of the artist’s unique mark on the aesthetic of numerous reproductions. Traditional printmaking requires a matrix upon which marks are made, ink is applied and prints are pulled. Totems to a repeated mark is a metaphor for the relationship between notions of unique and original on one hand, and repetition, reproduction and copy on the other. The totem is traditionally a being, object or symbol that represents an animal or plant and stands to remind a group of related people of their ancestry or a mythic past. The purpose of totems is to make the physical world understandable. Anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss argued that the totem is used as a physical analogy – a means of coping with a way of life in which the physical environment and society chafe against each other.
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GERALDINE BERKEMEIER
01_ Geraldine Berkemeier Strange Fruit 2013 Monotype on shaped aluminium Dimensions variable Courtesy and Š the artist Photograph by Sait Akkirman 02_ Geraldine Berkemeier Strange Fruit 2013 (detail) Monotype on shaped aluminium Dimensions variable Courtesy and Š the artist Photograph by Sait Akkirman
These plants and fruits are rare They are the remains from what was once a verdant cover of intense green lichen intense green ...no longer Now dust...
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ANTHEA BOESENBERG
01_ Anthea Boesenberg Time Study 2013 Rust and tea on Japanese paper Dimensions: 3 works, each x 65 x 110cm Courtesy and © the artist Photograph by Sait Akkirman 02_ Anthea Boesenberg Time Study 2013 (details) Rust and tea on Japanese paper Dimensions: 3 works, each x 65 x 110cm Courtesy and © the artist Photograph by Sait Akkirman
I have always been drawn to the surface of things, to surfaces marked by time. It’s a connection to the natural processes of ageing and the slow and beautiful cycle of decay and regeneration, from dust to dust. These images are part of a current series exploiting the effects of rust on paper. Physical changes occur when you combine metal, paper and liquid in a kind of alchemy. The rusting process marks and colours both sides of the paper, and breaks down its structure, sometimes leaving holes. These pieces will continue to deteriorate in a celebration of impermanence and imperfection.
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KATHY BOYLE
01_ Kathy Boyle Botanics 2013 Relief etching, screenprint, pyrography, encaustic wax on harekeke paper, kozo paper, wire and polythene tube Dimensions variable Courtesy and Š the artist Photograph by Sait Akkirman 02_ Kathy Boyle Botanics 2013 (detail) Relief etching, screenprint, pyrography, encaustic wax on harekeke paper, kozo paper, wire and polythene tube Dimensions variable Courtesy and Š the artist Photograph by Sait Akkirman
Botanics is a contemplative work which reflects on the subtle beauty and transience of nature in an increasingly frenetically-paced society. The ephemeral qualities of transparent paper, elusive shadows and the more rigid structures of the man-made materials create a tension between transience and permanence, substance and fragility and growth and decay. The work responds to the air currents produced by the proximity of the viewer, creating the allusion of walking by a field of fading summer flowers.
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HELEN MUELLER
01_ Helen Mueller Bathymetry 2010 Linocut prints, unique Dimensions: 14 x 14 x 26cm Courtesy and Š the artist Photograph by Helen Mueller
I find my inspiration in the waters of the sea. I see a calligraphy writing itself across its surface, propelled by wind and current. It is crisp and clear and can be read like a never-ending story. The deep, however, is murky and dark and difficult to discern. In trying to fathom what might lie below, I have imagined this calligraphy extending downwards, a kind of accumulation of surface observations silently building an understanding. The rhythm of my water calligraphy has insinuated itself into the making process of this piece: inking, laying down paper on the block, rolling it through the press, over and over, like waves arriving on the shore. The end result is an unbound book; one that tells my bathymetric story.
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CAROLE SHEPHEARD
01_ Carole Shepheard Proof of Intent 2013 Relief, collograph,flocking and constructed object Dimensions: 140 x 164 x 20cm (variable) Courtesy and © the artist Photograph by Sait Akkirman 02_ Carole Shepheard Proof of Intent 2013 (detail) Relief, collograph,flocking and constructed object Dimensions: 140 x 164 x 20cm (variable) Courtesy and © the artist Photograph by Sait Akkirman
They say overhearing conversations never is good, but when I heard a colleague say to a student ‘why print – surely it’s quicker to make a drawing or a painting’, I knew the challenges and the problems for artists who make prints was still an obstacle to overcome. For print to continue to assert itself and establish a respectful presence, it needs to show what it does that no other media can do and (more importantly for me) to do this without the constant referencing of process. It needs to ‘be’ its own mistress and to continue to evolve, change and be as innovative as it has been for centuries. From moveable type to woodcut to etching to screen print to textbased works to the digital (and everything in between), 21st century print needs to assert its place within mainstream contemporary art. Proof of Intent argues for a non-hierarchical approach to the making, exhibiting and collecting of printed objects, and therefore of course, giving artists a chance for their work to have the same status as other visual art fields and be shown in curated exhibitions such as this.
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GARY SHINFIELD
01_ 02_ and 03_ Gary Shinfield Shards 2013 Installation consisting of found wooden objects, wire and carbon stands, and sheets of paper with relief prints Dimensions: 150 x 80 x 60cm Courtesy and Š the artist Photograph by Sait Akkirman
The wooden objects were found on a beach in Greece. They were washed-up pieces of old boats. In the studio they were inked using the intaglio method and printed onto sheets of paper using a relief press. For this exhibition, I decided to exhibit the actual found pieces of wood with printed sheets of paper carrying their imprint. Stands were constructed from materials found in my studio – small blocks of carbon and wire handles. The installation resembles fragments collected from an archaeological dig, the human figure and parts of it. Boundaries were crossed by moving into three-dimensional space, through the use of mixed media, and by placing objects and their imprints together.
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JANET PARKER SMITH
01_ Janet Parker Smith Lost in Transition 2013/14 Screen print on linen with mixed media Dimensions: 110 x 130cm Courtesy and Š the artist Photograph by Sait Akkirman 02_ Janet Parker Smith Burrowing 2013/14 Screen print on linen with mixed media Dimensions: 110 x 130cm Courtesy and Š the artist Photograph by Sait Akkirman
These works deal with ways of seeing. They aim to provoke enquiry about how one receives, perceives and imagines physical otherness. They deal with displacement through the use of otherness as a mechanism of protection, inclusion, exclusion, isolation and connection. They explore the effects of culture, progression and existence on our environment and nature, and the boundless capacity for reinvention and rejuvenation and the necessity for this as a means to survive.
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LYNN TAYLOR
01_ Lynn Taylor In the Waiting Room 2013 Cups: ‘Text-Book of Anatomy’ pages, glue, plaster; pill capsules filled with text: book pages, bandage, ash, silver leaf; repurposed appointment cards: medical text pages, plaster, bandage, graphite, gesso and print Variable edition of 100 Dimensions: 10 x 15.5cm Courtesy and © the artist Photograph by Sait Akkirman 02_ and 03_ Lynn Taylor In the Waiting Room 2013 Cups: ‘Text-Book of Anatomy’ pages, glue, plaster; pill capsules filled with text: book pages, bandage, ash, silver leaf; repurposed appointment cards: medical text pages, plaster, bandage, graphite, gesso and print (details) Variable edition of 100 Dimensions: 10 x 15.5cm Courtesy and © the artist Photograph by Sait Akkirman
Cups have been constructed from the pages of ‘Cunningham’s Text-Book of Anatomy’ (Seventh Edition, Oxford University Press 1937) through the action of repetitively coiling paper strips into concentric rings as a means to process my experiences of spending time in hospital waiting rooms. Spaces where fear, anxiety, worry and pain are exacerbated because of what is looming in the upcoming appointment. Emotions are peppered by little thoughts that eclipse over and over. Where should I sit? Should I have gone up to the desk? I don’t feel anything, only numb and surely I am meant to feel something? Will the treatment work for everyone else but me? What if I just left now? The shape of the coiled vessels echoes the omnipresent polystyrene cups which one can sip from while waiting. Perhaps if I can consume all the knowledge and words in this book, I can understand, but as the pills suggest, there may be ashes in my mouth.
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KATHRYN WIGHTMAN
01_ Kathryn Wightman Wallpaper 2013 Multiple layers of screenprinted glass powder on kiln-formed glass, digitally printed wallpaper panels Dimensions: 100 x 110 x 5cm Courtesy and © the artist Photograph by Sait Akkirman
Wightman’s work evidences a fascination of process and materiality explored through the exploitation of illusory imagery. She utilizes glass to mimic alternative surfaces, which aims to challenge the viewer’s sense of reality. Hybrid decorative patterns are deconstructed to create multiple layered compositions. Each layer is printed and stacked to add depth, allowing the patterned form to grow from the surface of the glass.
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Publication design by Siobhรกn Costigan