Gravitational Loopholes
For three decades I did not feel a need to work on a press as I had devised ways of incorporating the printed mark into my paintings without one. That all changed after working with a master printer a couple of years ago and taking a workshop on viscosity in January 2018. I seem to have sought refuge during this trying time for our country and our world, on the bed of a press. Maybe it is the perfect metaphor for this moment - the mix of intense pressure with resistance (viscosity) to produce a record. I am not sure why, but I dove in with abandon.
For lack of a better term, I am calling the prints hybrid viscosity monoprints. I make screens using vector drawings or photoshop files, print them onto a plexiglass monoprint plate with oil based inks, manipulate at will using viscosity rolls and hand work, then run the plate through a press. It has given me the ability to produce endless variations and just plain fill a need to “ get a lot of images out”.
Feeling the weight of not only past, but future generations counting on our resolve in these moments, we stand on the precipice, contemplating the gravity of our situation, hoping for loopholes.
