Veiled Prints | 2017

The multi media mono print with collage is an artwork that exists somewhere between painting and printmaking.  It is a painting in the sense that the work is done in stages that are discovered and not predicted.  It is also a print in that the basic piece is stamped out in a printing press using traditional techniques like dry point and intaglio printing.  On top of everything, is superimposed thin sheets of mulberry paper that literally veil the image. Veiling the work allows me to adjust the balance of lights and darks and to simplify.  The point is not to make a print or a painting but to arrive at an image that closely matches the vision that I want to communicate. 

Vision is one of those things that an artist must aspire to. It does not come automatically.  It takes a lot of work and considerable time to realize a sense of vision, but it is the most important thing an artist can do.  Vision is the sum total of all the visual experience that have ever affected us. In a broader sense, the vision is the intention of the work, it is the direction taken, the line drawn, the look and the feel of the art.

To veil is to mask, it is a partial coverup, it exposes and conceals  at the same time.  Veils are seductive, they make us imagine what is hidden.  My work exists in this limbo of ambiguity. It is not that I want to be obtuse, I am just determined to stay true to my muses that keep leading me to somehow make things better. The only way I can think of to make changes is to add new techniques.  It is ironic that the only way to simplify is to make more complex.

The printing plates are 1/8th. in. plexiglass that have been cut into three inch modules and assembled into a variety of configurations.  Mostly, they are built up with acrylic medium and engraved. I have used water based and oil based colors to  print with and the collage papers are mulberry adhered with PVA glue. The basic substrate is Rives BFK 100% rag printing paper.