With the year reaching it’s halfway mark, Quinten Edward Williams has been exploring work which he began at the beginning of the year, which deals with his continuous narrative of the formation of environments.
The works, both vibrant and beautiful, were revisited for completion recently. Perhaps time was a key element in their creation? We sat with Quinten to discover more into his process regarding these two new works.
Quinten Edward Williams
Title: Untitled, 2015 [white one]
Sugarlift Aquatint, Drypoint and Coloured Chine Collé
Hahnemühle, White, 300gsm
36 x 40 cm
Edition: 15
Quinten Edward Williams
Title: Untitled, 2015 [blue one]
Sugarlift Aquatint, Drypoint and Coloured Chine Collé
Hahnemühle, White, 300gsm
60 x 60 cm
DKP: You are completing two new prints at the DKW.
Where did the concept for these new works come about?
QEW: I am currently finishing works that were started at the beginning of the year. http://davidkrutprojects.com/35308/interview-with-quinten-edward-williams
In an interview in the beginning of the year I said that the work deals with the formation of environments, but that at the moment I am thinking more about the internal states of particular bodies. This still holds true. I am constantly thinking about how it is that things in the world are the where they are, and are the way they are.
DKP: The work (currently untitled Blue one) is one of many lines, scratches and appears to be quite occupied with variations of shapes /lines and scratches in opposing directions. In short it is very aesthetically active work. Was this intentional?
QEW: Yes. This process of producing the work is a thinking process. Art making is a type of thinking. I was quite open to the a variation of mark making in the making of the plates. I wanted to see how I could continuously complicate the marks that were printing. I wanted to build the plates up with many layers: some of them responding to previous marks, and some irrespective of previous marks.
DKP: You mentioned technique was an aspect that you wanted to explore strongly within these two new works. Firstly, why the need to explore technique (make it the primary focus) when you have been making prints ranging from monotypes to etchings, such as Chokepoint and No 3 over the last few years. And secondly, how does this switch and optimize your focus when creating the work?
QEW: Making work goes hand in hand with exploring techniques. You are busy testing your material, nudging and pushing it in various directions, stretching it out, and clumping it up. Printmaking in itself, however, is a highly technical activity. You need to follow certain basic procedures in the making of a plate, you rely on tacid knowledge which only comes with time. It is a heuristic activity. The making process itself is a thinking process. The work of art emerges through this thinking process.
DKP: The movement within the piece (Currently untitled blue one) appears to be organic and intensely beautiful amongst the frenzy of all the scratches and lines.
Do you agree?
QEW: Yes, there does seem to be a movement that travels through all the linework and tonalities.
DKP: Through the exploration of technique for the work (Currently Untitled blue one ), was choice in colour decided through process, to enhance the technique displayed?
QEW: Experimenting with colour is a continuation of the working process. It is not so much opposed to technique, as wrapped up in the working process. I wanted colours that would create vivid areas in the print, and less clear, darker ones too.
DKP: The work (Currently Untitled white one) is softer in appearance, with pastel like colours and resting/breathing space for the eye when roaming across the paper.
The work was created simultaneously as (Currently Untitled blue one). How do you manage to create two works at the same time that are aesthetically opposite to a certain degree, in turn conveying a similar narrative in different manners?
QEW: I always work on more than one art work at the same time. The different works I am making relate to one another. The one is creating a sensation different from the other, but these sensations are related. They complicate each other.
DKP: How has the approach been different with the printmakers to previous times working at the DKW, seeing as your approach this time was technique focused?
QEW: You are always working with a concept. I was thinking about the formation of environments, and the sensation of a body in an environment. This interest in internal states and an existence as part of a broader environment made me want to explore a wider variety of mark making than in the prints I made in 2014. In those prints I was more interested in plotting a path through an environment.
DKP: Printmaking as a medium appears to be generating a lot more popularity recently. What are your views on this, and how can those within publishing ensure it has longevity?
QEW: The type of fine art printmaking that happens at David Krut Workshop does not have a role in the contemporary industrial and commercial book printing industry, and artists are using this medium to explore their own secular interests. Printmaking, however, has a rich tradition which artists are drawing upon, and complicating. I particularly enjoy the collaborative nature of printmaking. I am in constant conversation with Jill, Kim-Lee and Neo when working in the workshop. This conversation really pushes the prints in exciting directions. I also enjoy the level of control that is possible through a printmaking process, but that you are always working with contingencies. You are constantly surprised. I like surprises. The printmaking process is very rich. I think that printmaking is also a great way for people to collect art. People should have easy access to platforms that make clear what printmaking is. Lets up their printing literacy! It is such a fascinating and stimulating process, and the final works are often quite mesmerising. A print always has a story to tell!