Castle Gallery, Inverness, until 27 May 2006

'Heavenly Bodies Moonstruck' by Brenda Hartill and Mychael Barratt.

THE CASTLE GALLERY’S latest exhibition celebrates the individuality, innovation and collaboration of four of the UK’s finest printmakers, Trevor Price, Brenda Hartill, Anita Klein and Mychael Barratt.

‘Under the Influence’ is a superb introduction to the range of work possible through the art of printmaking. Often mistakenly regarded as an art of reproduction, this show successfully debunks this idea.

True to form each work is a handcrafted original, the result of highly skilled individual or collaborative work. The resulting blend of styles and techniques is a real revelation. The variety of marks that can be achieved is testimony to the artists’ chosen method of expression and the joy of experimentation.

Regular visitors to the Castle Gallery will be familiar with the distinct styles of Trevor Price, Anita Klein and Mychael Barratt predominantly in drypoint, etching and aquatint. This is the first time that the work of collagraph artist Brenda Harthill has been shown in Inverness. The influence of each artist’s signature technique is explored in the show, together with works created by two, three or all four members of the group.

---

Though I enjoyed all of the individual works on display it was the collaborative work that held the most fascination for me

---

The exhibition preview featured the screening of a film documenting the four artists’ creative exchange during a week in Brenda Hartill’s studio in Andalucia. During this time the artists had the opportunity to challenge themselves and each other, producing a body of work that reaffirms the strength and individuality of each artist’s style while creating new exciting work through collaboration

We so often think of creativity as a solitary activity. With many years of experience between them as established artists, it is wonderful to see on film the exploration of each other’s technical strengths. This willingness to step outside signature styles to see where the exploration of different and sometimes unfamiliar techniques will take them is a real strength in any artist’s professional practice.

Experimentation is central to the printmaking process as Anita Klein described during the post film discussion and keeps working in the medium fresh “no matter how long you have been doing it”.

The film footage reveals a real sense of anticipation, excitement and surprise as the paper is slowly peeled back on the press to reveal a hand crafted original work of art.

An element of the unexpected is at the heart of the process and although each artist has a preferred method in drypoint, etching or collagraph printing, works where these methods merge are some of the highlights of the exhibition. There is much to be gained from experienced artists working together in this way, the proof of this is revealed consistently throughout the show.

Klein (President of the Royal Society of Painter- Printmakers) described the way in which different printmaking techniques create a substantial “mark making vocabulary”.

The process of working on copper plate covered in wax ground, scraping an image onto the wax surface and then allowing the metal to be incised by the action of an acid bath characterises “fluid” technique of etching.

The physical process of drypoint, scratching onto a metal plate and fighting against the surface produces a metal burr which catches ink and creates a certain fuzziness in the line the artist has created. “Perseverance” and the element of “surprise” come together in this method.

Though producing the image is controlled by the artist’s knowledge of technique, each print of the edition will be slightly different. During the discussion Trevor Price described his method of using a soldering iron on Perspex to create strongly defined figurative work, his own unique kind of drypoint.

Price’s ‘Making Rainbows’ (Hand coloured drypoint) is typical of his strong sculptural approach to the figure merged with the whimsical depiction of rain coming from their hands. The staccato like treatment of raindrops in the print are beautifully realised and animated. Playful and sensuous, Price’s figurative works such as ‘Showering’ find joy in the everyday intimacies of life.

This is a quality that is shared (though visually in a completely different way) by fellow artist Anita Klein, who fills the whole picture plane with the figure defined simply in black and white. Domestic scenes from her everyday family life are her trademark, and she also displays a playful sense of humour towards her subject.

‘Nige in the Moonlight’ and ‘Without my Nightie’ are two such examples, the two figures beautifully entwined in unselfconscious intimacy. The broad strong lines of the body, fineness of hair and washed areas in ‘Nige in the Moonlight’ are at once bold and tender. The chosen marks are wonderfully evocative of the subject.

Etching and aquatint are Mychael Barratt’s preferred methods. A fine dusting of resin is applied to the metal plate and then immersed in acid. Tone is created by the acid eating around each particle. The finely shaded effects in Barratt’s etchings are created by “stopping out successive parts of the plate after each bite in the acid” bath.

Finely textured with literary and art historical references, it strikes me as the perfect way of depicting his chosen subject matter. In this way the artist’s inspiration finds perfect counterpoint in his technique. ‘Life Imitating Art’ and ‘Once in a Lifetime’ are two such examples.

Brenda Hartill’s collagraph process is sculptural in its conception and her understanding of spatial relationships and the effects of light are strongly influenced by her experience as a theatre designer.

The technique relates directly to collage, relief sculpture and mixed media. Thin layers of found objects and modelling material are used to gradually build the printed image to stunning effect.

‘Autumnal Elements’ (collagraph, carborundum with copper and gold leaf) displays a sensitive application of layering, seeping green into gold and brown like the action of the elements on stone. ‘Alchemy IV’ (collagraph, carborundum and copper leaf) also contains striking delicacy with abstract form to great effect.

‘Golden Magic Trees’ reveals a finely textured treatment of the surface with a monumentality of form most often seen in ancient stone sculpture. Hartill has the ability to light the surface from within. ‘Blue Fire II’ (collagraph, carborundum and silver leaf) creates intensity through the coolness of blue and the fine texture of hair thin spun silver.

Years of exploring these techniques in the studio have enabled these artists to find “the best way of saying what [they] want to say”, engaging fully not in reproduction but expression.

Though I enjoyed all of the individual works on display it was the collaborative work that held the most fascination for me. ‘Guernica’ (etching and collograph), a work by all four artists, deconstructs the image and explores the abstract shapes of cubism.

It does not attempt to comment on the horror of war, but rather the affect of Picasso’s image on the viewer in terms of technique and subject. It is a strikingly integrated and beautiful work bound together by the earthy filtered browns applied using the collagraph method. While the hand of each individual artist can be seen in the group of eight square panels, it is a strongly unified.

The ‘Heavenly Bodies’ series of works seemed to stretch all of the artists in a new and interesting way. In this series of prints each artist collaborated with Hartill to produce large works influenced by the moon and infinity.

‘Heavenly Bodies Moondance’ (collagraph, etching, carborundum with silver leaf) by both Hartill and Price contains a group of abstracted figures by Price in a timeless spiral of movement. The elemental nature of Hartill’s inspiration and technique combines with the human nature of Price’s figurative work.

‘Heavenly Bodies Angel’, using the same media but in collaboration with Klein, incorporates the artists characteristic treatment of the female form with an expansive sense of space outside a world of domesticity. The angel’s wings are reminiscent of a dragonfly’s with refractions of iridescent colour and light on an infinite background.

‘Heavenly Bodies Moonstruck’ incorporates Barratt’s floating lovers in the manner of Chagall under the influence of Hartill’s moon, her finely textured treatment of the foreground and the same sense of timelessness stretching into the background.

I was left with the impression from this set of works and from other collaborative prints on display that the artists were drawn out of themselves while still “playing to [their] strengths.”

To compliment the exhibition workshops in the techniques of screenprinting (13 May), Drypoint (20 May), etching (27 May) and woodcut (3 June) are being offered by Highland Print Studio. This is a great opportunity to explore different techniques on a practical level and be inspired by some fantastic examples of the printmaker’s art through the exhibition.

© Georgina Coburn, 2006

Link

• Castle Gallery