OBLIQUE a. For the last week or so I have been working on a new complete book. What, you may ask, is a complete book? Well, in short it is a book that has the art work, printing and making/binding by one person. Perhaps one could call it an Artist's Book.
I am fascinated with many things, artists and designers. I have a modest collection of Victorian/Edwardian glass negatives. The medium is always delights me. The way that light and chemicals capture light-a moment in time- is.... with no pun intended... timeless. In addition the way in which a few of my plates have degraded over time to leave a patina of sorts has, for me at least, created further depth and layers of imagery.
Using my trusty light box we can see more and......
...... with a little bit of computer magic we get the full picture. I just love this sort of thing.
Along with glass negatives I am in awe of the artisans of a bygone age. In particular the artist and crafts people that produced the wood cuts and engravings that pepper a small collection of the Illustrated London News, again Victorian, I have tucked away on the shelves of Studio 5.
It would appear that I am not the only fan of course, with perhaps one of the most iconic designers of the 20th century, I refer to Piero Fornasetti... of course. In the 1950s, Fornasetti used the face of Lina Cavalieri for his series Tema e Variazioni, which over time became one of the icons of the Fornasetti style.
It has to be said, that I am, along with many others a fan of Fornasetti.
It has been said, of my work, that it can be rather dark at times. I have to agree, life is dark at times and my work, with books, reflects the contents. I tend not to do books that are happy and gay, flowers and the sort. Having said that, I would bind a book of Emil Nolde's flowers...
I digress.
Back to OBLIQUE a. I suppose that I like to look at life at an angle, to see what is on the other side or to experience from different perspectives. I have always wanted to combine the visual texture of the negative with the stylistic nature of illustrations from Victorian publications. So after a little bit of experimentation, manipulation, distortion and grotesque (comically or repulsively ugly or distorted). 14 prints for a limited edition of 5 books. Each print is 12cm x 12cm and, with the nature of the print technique, each print is unique.
