Thursday, November 27, 2008

Frustration in Red and Green

My color blindness is something I (probably quite obviously) think about a lot. The intent of this piece differs from my work The Grass is Always Greener in so far as that piece was about how I was interested in others points of view in relation to my own; how they desired to see as I do while I experience the same thing for them.
In this piece it is pretty much all about me. I'll admit I've been frustrated quite a bit at times by my particular disability (when I was in kindergarten one of my teachers made me cry when she yelled at me for finger painting in the wrong color - she was criticizing my "defiance" when I didn't even know at that point I was color blind). Anger is quite chaotic and that feeling was what I was expressing.
Red and green were chosen again for their common association with those who are color blind.
The work itself is photo silkscreen masquerading as mono type prints. Basically I took large sheets of acetate and duralar and inked them up with opaque relief printing ink. I then modified the flat with mineral spirits and isopropyl alcohol. Then I printed them in layers.
I did these this was to experiment with the idea of trying to get a reproducible mono type. As the name suggests mono types are basically a one off - a ghost image can be printed but it is never as strong as the original. Playing with textures, pattern and formal elements in mono type printmaking fascinates me and I was searching for a method of reproducing the work in a traditional way (I would like to avoid digital reprints).
The method itself needs work and for those who know printmaking the look of the ink on the surface gives it away as a silkscreen but it's a fun process and I hope I can experiment with it further in the near future.

Examples of my abstract and mixed media mono types can be found at the following links:
Tarus the Bull
Grizzly Truth
When the Storm Comes Down
Roots

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