RAGE, a hand inked and hand pulled dark field monotype, is a two dimensional piece in the “Cognitive Emotions” Series. The two dimensional pieces in the “Cognitive Emotions” Series use color to evoke the particular emotion and the internal lines to show the cognitive element of the emotion. Matted and framed to 20” x 16”.
There is a saying that over time, couples tend to take on each other’s characteristics and start to resemble one another in appearance and mannerism. GROWING OLD TOGETHER, a hand-inked and hand-pulled hard-plate monotype created by individually inking two separate plates and then printing them together, side-by-side, gives abstract expression to that saying. From a distance, GROWING OLD TOGETHER appears to be a single image, but a closer look reveals that, while there are great similarities and patters that carry from one to the other, they are still two separate and distinct images. Matted and framed to 24″ x 12″.
IN FLANDERS FIELDS draws upon the first two lines of John McCrae’s iconic World War I poem: “In Flanders fields the poppies blow/Between the crosses, row on row”. For me, the visual image created by these lines has always been a very calm, organized and almost static one. It is an image of the dead, not of their dying. With my IN FLANDERS FIELDS I try to shift the focus backward in time from the orderly to the chaos of death. I hope John McCrae would understand and approve. Hand inked and hand pulled monotype matted and framed to 17” x 7”.
I have relatives in California who smelled the smoke and saw the flames of the recent California wildfires. They were in no danger and didn’t have to evacuate, but the bags were packed. WILDFIRE, a hard plate monotype, is my effort to get a sense of, however vicariously, what it must have been like to experience that situation. Image: 19” x 14”, matted and framed to 28” x 22”
PHOENIX RISING is an abstract rendition of the classic myth of the Phoenix, the bird that rises from its own ashes. In my version, the image of the Phoenix appears in outline through the smoke and ashes just to the left of center – though the eye is clearly visible. A hand inked and hand pulled hard plate monotype, PHOENIX RISING is matted and framed to 28” x 22
APOCALYPSE, a double plate collographic monoprint, the first non-ceramic piece in my Summer, 2017 “Hooded Figure” series, uses stylized black and white oval figures set against a roiling orange/red/black background to illustrate a central theme from the Book of Revelations. Hand inked and hand pulled. Image: 14” x 21 ½”, matted and framed to 22” x 28”.
NUCLEAR FAMILY: 2018 is a combination print and collage which superimposes two images (male and female) from my AN AMERICAN FACE Series on a hard surface monotype background in order to emphasize one of the many risks that the “nuclear family” will face in 2018. The angles and palette of the background, the merging of the images with the background at points, the disembodied nature of the images and the thin black border line all point to the other use of the term “nuclear”. Matted and framed to 18” x 14”.
TEMPERED is a two part, layered print/collage in which the background is a hard surface monotype, and the overlaid facial image is a collographic monoprint using a plate from my AN AMERICAN FACE Series. The word “tempered” can mean different things, particularly in this context, and I will leave each viewer to decide what it means to them. Image: 9” x 5”, Matted and framed to 14” x 10”.
GREEN MAN: SUMMER is the fourth and last piece in the “Seasonal Green Man” series. It was the last because, of the four seasons, Summer is the most difficult one for me to visualize and express. I clearly “see” the colors and tones of Autumn, Winter, and Spring, but Summer is different and more of a challenge for me because I think I see it as a transition from Spring to Autumn rather than as having its own definition. Matted and framed to 18” x 14”
GREEN MAN: SPRING, like the others in the “Seasonal Green Man” series is a collage created with pieces of hand inked and hand pulled hard plate monotype prints designed specifically to reflect the new growth colors of Spring. Again, while the primary and secondary contours remain essentially the same, the seasons have changed. Matted and framed to 18” x 14”
John Fansmith