XT02 Daniel Moynihan

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A RARE BEAST

Video by Trouble ....................................................................................................

PRINTMAKING 1966-2016

Jennifer Jones O’Neill ...........................................................................................

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COVER: Daniel Moynihan, High Jumper, Straddle style 1983, zinc plate lithograph, BFK Rives paper, edition 7/11, 120 x 80cm. All images courtesy of the artist. © Daniel Moynihan. Licensed by Viscopy, 2016 XT Issue 2 MAY 2016 trouble is an independent monthly mag for promotion of arts and culture Published by Trouble Magazine Pty Ltd. ISSN 1449-3926 EDITOR Steve Proposch THANKS Daniel Moynihan, Loris Button, Jennifer Jones-O’Neill GET from AppStore FOLLOW on issuu & twitter SUBSCRIBE at troublemag.com READER ADVICE: Trouble magazine contains artistic content that may include nudity, adult concepts, coarse language, and the names, images or artworks of deceased Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people. Treat Trouble intelligently, as you expect to be treated by others. Collect or dispose of thoughtfully.

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Daniel Moynihan

a rare beast

Daniel Moynihan takes us through the process for printing one of his etchings.

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t is a rare event when 50 years of printmaking expertise is on exhibition.

Rare too – unique in fact – is the sort of education that Daniel Moynihan has had, both in terms of his art more broadly but very specifically in terms of his printmaking. It is this education and experience that allows him to maintain the very highest level of accomplishment in both painting and printmaking.

Jennifer Jones-O’Neill

Daniel Moynihan Printmaking 1966-2016

A forthcoming exhibition at Australian Galleries, Melbourne (May-June) will showcase Moynihan’s paintings of the past ten years, and at the Art Gallery of Ballarat a fifty-year retrospective (current until 19 June) provides the opportunity to see an amazing range of printmaking techniques and materials and a demonstration of just what can be achieved in the right hands.

From undertaking a double Diploma in both Painting and Printmaking at RMIT to working in Paris as part of a residency at the Power Studio, Cité Internationale des Arts, Moynihan has never done things by half measures. The time at RMIT was spent working with key figures in the development of printmaking in Australia such as Tate Adams, who established the first commercial gallery in Australia devoted to prints, and Udo Sellbach, who was a founding member of the Print Council of Australia (which is also celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year).

It was in this environment that Moynihan learnt about taking time and care with each and every part of the printmaking process, from preparing the soft grounds through to the correct way to use the roller.

Such attention to detail paid off as Moynihan’s skills were recognised and valued in his time in Paris working at the prestigious Atelier Lacouriére et Frélaut. It was here that Picasso, Chagall, Dali, Matisse and many others had made their prints and Moynihan could spend long days studying their plates while making his own, and then go on to work with the same family of expert printers who had started the atelier, also learning much from them.

PREVIOUS SPREAD Celtic Tool Tiger (detail) 2004 etching on 2 copper plates, BFK Rives paper, final state, edition 4/25, 60 x 90cm.

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Miss Annie Weatherby 1966 etching, soft ground, aquatint on zinc plate, Fabriano paper 2nd state, edition 1/10, 20 x 25cm

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Moynihan returned to Paris a number of times over the years and on a later visit focussed on making lithographs at another specialist studio.

Back in Australia he has also worked on restoring the extant etching plates of Fred Williams’ estate and, similarly, later, George Baldessin’s plates. This breadth of experience means that the work in this exhibition demonstrates the full range of printmaking skills and techniques.

For example, the Art Gallery of Ballarat’s Desormais, 5 Rue des Pruniers (1988) is an etching with aquatint and drypoint on steel faced copper plate. Each of these elements tells us something distinctive about the process, from the etched line which acid has bitten into the plate following the artist’s stylus, the aquatint where the acid responds to the artist’s use of resin to create a tonal effect, and the drypoint where Moynihan has returned to the work scratching directly into the plate to create a softer line. Added to this is the steel faced copper plate which is an infrequently used additional stage to extend the life and quality of the plate.

Something very different is Rare Sightings (1998) which is a large lithograph printed at the well known Melbourne studio of Peter Lancaster. The final work is produced by meticulous attention to each of the colours on one stone surface and four separate zinc plates to create the luminous, rich result.

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Desormais, 5 Rue de Pruniers 1988 etching, aquatint, drypoint on steel faced copper plate, Velin Arches paper 2nd state, edition 1/45, 60 x 44cm.

Collection: Art Gallery of Ballarat. Gift of Elizabeth Cross, 2014

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Rare Sightings 2007, oil on linen, 200cm x 250cm.

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Magic mark 1981 etching, aquatint, drypoint on magnesium plate, Fabriano paper 1st and final state, edition 7/25, 91 x 60cm.

Another aspect of Moynihan’s practice, which he explains more fully in the catalogue that accompanies the exhibition (see interview with Loris Button), is the way in which he sees the different media as discrete, in that he focuses his energies on one medium at a time, and yet intimately connected, in that the subject material is carefully explored and developed through each media. In other words, Moynihan can track the changes in his ideas as he moves through the various stages of working on a plate, studying the impact of the both linear and the tonal, and frequently creating many states of a print before being satisfied that he has reached the final work. Only later, and informed by this process and the knowledge gained, will Moynihan then move to painting. Then later again he may move to lithography as a final component.

To Moynihan each form of media can stand alone – a fact that is clearly demonstrated in his current print and painting exhibitions – but they also work together in a sort of dialectical process. It is more like reading a trilogy than chapters of the same book.

Just as Moynihan’s printmaking skills and knowledge of the medium are rich and varied, so too are the influences and erudition he brings to his subject matter. Moynihan weaves multifarious elements of research, memories, experiences and ideas to create his enigmatic visions.

From his early admiration of Flemish 14th century painting through to studies of field naturalism; from intense research into the history and treament of the Thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger) to the lasting impression of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Richard III, and to the more prosaic observations and memories of the everyday world, from the football field to the tools and implements in his grandfather’s shed; all these elements surface at various points in time and in a variety of modes.

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161 West 22nd Street NY 1986 etching, aquatint, drypoint on copper plate, Velin Arches paper 2nd state, edition 1/30, 60 x 44cm.

It is not just nostalgia that has given rise to the re-valuing of vinyl amidst the sea of CDs and digital streaming, and similarly film against the tide of digital and computer generated imagery. Thankfully we are more appreciative now of diversity and the strengths and nuances of the broad spectrum of media. While traditional printmaking has not suffered quite the same level of digital dismissal as has vinyl and film, it is an absolute joy to see an exhibition such as this. Not only does it showcase the moving and engaging work of Daniel Moynihan in all its complexity and richness, but it provides an expansive demonstration of the power of printmaking and a very timely celebration of fifty years of a significant Australia printmaker’s work.

Associate Professor Jennifer Jones-O’Neill Faculty of Education and Arts, Federation University Australia >

Portrait of DH 243 1967 etching, aquatint, drypoint on zinc plate, Japanese paper, edition 3/10, 34 x 25cm.

NEXT SPREAD Celtic Tool Tiger 2004 etching on 2 copper plates, BFK Rives paper, final state, edition 4/25, 60 x 90cm.

FOLLOWING SPREAD Harold Wright’s Tinker Truck 2014 etching, drypoint, aquatint, sugarlift on 2 copperplates, Lana Royal paper, final state, edition 8/32, 60 x 90cm.

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