Make Print Great Again
‘Make Print Great Again’ brings together eight artists based in the North East of England, each of whom has an individual approach to the nature, techniques and possibilities of printmaking and its position within contemporary art.
Alfons Bytautas is a printmaker in an on-going collaboration with actor Jane Arnfield. Arnfield has been commissioned to devise and direct a site-specific performance piece, marking the 75th anniversary of the liquidation of the Litzmannstadt Ghetto in Lodz, Poland by the Nazis.
Theresa Easton is an artist with a socially engaged practice, who enjoys a collaborative approach to making artwork and developing ideas alongside participants. Printmaking provides a platform for Easton’s interpretation of social history and cultural commentary.
…grafik 2.1 reflects upon the expressive and poetic qualities found within the subtle layering of the incidental trace, primarily using the process of serigraph, a highly labour-intensive silkscreen technique.
Johnnyx’s work is a response to the environment, politics, love, life and death. He references the ephemera of popular culture; found imagery is obfuscated and re-purposed/reworked into original screen prints.
- Alfons Bytautas, Ten to Ten 1, 2019, cyanotype, 84x60cm
- Johnnyx, Bananapocalypse, 2019, screenprint on Fabriano 220gsm paper, 70x50cm
- …grafik 2.1, …untitled: a day, a second, et cetera et cetera, 2019, silkscreen print, 81x61cm
Erika Servin’s work draws upon the historic relationship between Mexican politics and popular street posters with their cheapness, ease of reproduction and strong graphic possibilities. The prints exhibited in this exhibition represent the setting of a Pulquería, a once popular Mexican tavern.
George William Stewart takes inspiration from cultural imagery, both past and present, searching for a link between the two. He is a multidisciplinary artist who works predominately in printmaking, moving image and tattooing.
Jade Sweeting is interested in archives and recycling found imagery, where process is a main element, alongside analogue techniques, from darkroom photography to printmaking. Sweeting’s key focus is to push the medium, placing a strong emphasis on intuition and skill.
Lee Turner’s recent work came initially from a series of drawings exploring subtle stripes and colours. These were transcribed into a series of monotypes entitled, ‘Why stripes? Why not?’, continuing the exploration of line and colour.