CLEO WILKINSON
Nursing an image out of its black womb into light has a primordial spiritual magic. I try to emphasize the singularity silence and loneliness of a form – transforming it from ordinary to something more profound – into the realm of dreams and poetry; to translate the emotion and atmosphere around it. I explore stillness, silence, simplicity, quietude – a moment to stop and pause. In the stillness and the silence – that is where objects often get their power. I think of myself as a person who makes objects that just happen to be prints. I like to suggest not prescribe – what is missing in the shadows and is suggested provides the greatest potential for me. The mezzotint print technique remains unchanged for the last 300 years it achieves tonality by roughening the metal plate with a rocker to produce a rich black creating a high level of tonal richness then painstaking burnishing of the plate and many trial printings to create the image .The tiny dots created on the plate by the roulette are the ancestor of the Pixel.
Vestiges 2018 mezzotint print, edition 29/50 56 x 42 cm