David Krut Projects, in association with The AVA Gallery, is pleased to present MATRIX II, an exhibition of works that sheds light on the processes of printmaking. Previously shown at David Krut Projects in Newlands, this second iteration of the exhibition coincides with the AVA/Strauss Open Printmaking Studio, which is to be held at the AVA from 4 June – 21 July and will see the main gallery transformed into an open studio for 32 artists and 7 printmaking specialists. The selection of works explore a range of different intaglio and relief printing techniques and are exhibited alongside the plates that were used to make them and, in some cases, the trial proofs that show the development of the work.
Prints, unlike paintings or drawings, generally exist in multiple examples. They are created by drawing a composition not directly on paper but on another surface, called a matrix, and then, by various techniques, transferring that image onto paper. The matrix (from the Latin word mater, meaning mother) can be made out of a number of things – a wooden block, a metal plate, a lithographic stone or a mesh screen for example. At the David Krut Workshop in Johannesburg, etching (on copper plates) and relief printing (on woodblock and linoleum plates) are used most frequently. Artists in studio have the opportunity to work with a master printer, who helps to achieve the marks the artists want by guiding the artists in the manipulation of the matrix. The job of the collaborating printer, ultimately, is to build the confidence in artists that allows the way they see the world to come through their hands, in a medium and using techniques they may be unfamiliar with and taking the transformative nature of the press into account. Printmaking is the only medium in which the process of an artist’s image creation is revealed, also to the artist – when a proof is pulled off the press, the artist sees the result for the first time, along with everyone else. Consequently, the print workshop is a supportive environment that embraces technical and aesthetic exploration, innovation and collaboration.
Included in MATRIX II are works by Deborah Bell, Mischa Fritsch, William Kentridge, Maja Maljević, Chad Roussouw, Senzo Shabangu, Diane Victor, Mary Wafer and Quinten Williams that offer viewers insight into techniques from linocut to aquatint. As well as plates and proofs, the installation includes explanatory text for each technique used and a number of important printmaking terms.
Also included in MATRIX II is an interactive sculpture by Mischa Fritsch. The sculpture comprises a long pole with a hardened steel pin protruding out the end of it. Underneath the pin is fixed a highly polished brass plate. Viewers are invited to look through a theodolite – a land surveillance apparatus – attached to the pole, and in moving around to adjust the view, the pin is moved across the plate, thereby leaving a mark. Every week, the plate will be removed from the sculpture and proofed so that the progression of marks can be seen over time. Titled Theodograph, after the surveillance device, the sculpture complicates the act of looking by literally lending physicality to a line of sight. The sculpture is topped by the white cross-plates of a land-marking beacon, emphasising the artist’s long-term preoccupation with the impact of human intervention in the landscape.
click here for a full glossary of printmaking terms
The exhibition will run until 21 July 2015.
For more information, please contact David Krut Projects Cape Town – 021 685 0676.