Prints make their mark

IN A series of upcoming articles I will be highlighting some of our artworks from our permanent collection.

With more than 500 works and growing steadily, there are many to marvel at, be inspired by, challenged, or simply enjoy. Currently showing are two exhibitions, On Country and On Paper, both exhibitions curated from our collection.

On Paper, as the title suggests, explores the many ways in which artists use paper in realising their ideas.

The many forms of paper are explored, from recycled to specialist bookmaking papers, from delicate Japanese rice paper, to artist quality handmade papers. But let’s not forget scale.

Slow Boat, a linocut by David Frazer takes relief printing to another level.

Lino prints are made by cutting away the “negative” elements of the image on a block of lino.

Wood blocks were originally used before the adoption of the more readily available lino.

Woodblocks are still used, but many printmakers prefer lino because of the relative ease of cutting.

Once the negative areas have been removed, the surface of the lino is rolled up with ink, paper is placed on the surface with the ink transferred to the paper under pressure, completing the printing process.

Those of us who took art as a subject at school in our early years would remember carving away at a small square of lino with usually the bluntest of tools, and then rolling up standard issue inks (read budget) to produce an image with varying results on a small sheet of cartridge paper.

Slow Boat is an extraordinary print.

With the incongruous image of a boat high and dry and no suggestion of water to be seen anywhere. This unsettling landscape is possibly referencing the central Victorian vistas near to where Frazer lives.

Slow Boat has been cut from one piece of lino, measuring 120cm high by 180cm wide. It is a remarkable physical endeavour and result with 50 prints being editioned by this master printmaker.

We are very fortunate to have acquired one.