Prints

Saints and Sinners

SAINTS AND SINNERS is a new collograph print series which uses a complex and layered, but nevertheless, monochromatic palette throughout relying on the interstices to carry the image. SAINTS AND SINNERS #1, the first print in the series (and like all the others) leaves the viewer to decide whether it is the image of a saint or a sinner. While each piece in the series can stand alone, they are intended to be viewed in groups of at least three. Hand inked and hand pulled and matted and framed to 24” x 10”.

RUST BELT IN 2018 AMERICAN COLOR PRINT SOCIETY SHOW

I am very pleased to announce that my layered monoprint, RUST BELT, has been accepted into the American Color Print Society’s Fall Exhibition Open Show by Juror Caren Friedman. The Show will run from October 7^th through October 25^th, 2018 at The Plastic Club, 247 South Camac Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. There will be an Opening Reception from 2pm until 5pm on Sunday, October 7^th.

RUST BELT

RUST BELT is an entirely experimental piece which involved inking a hard plate, applying some resists, adding additional ink and then removing the resists before printing. It was intended to answer the question: “I wonder what would happen if…?” The title, RUST BELT, came after it was completed and I had watched part of a Donald Trump rant the night I completed it. Matted and framed to 24” x 18”.

RAGE

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”.

GROWING OLD TOGETHER

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

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”.

Wildfire

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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

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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

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”.

AN AMERICAN FACE: SELF – PORTRAIT

Our family has a saying, “You don’t grow old on this side of your eyes”. AN AMERICAN FACE: SELF – PORTRAIT, is my way of putting that saying to the test as well as my eye sight and artistic abilities. Not really sure if any of the three passed it. AN AMERICAN FACE: SELF – PORTRAIT is a hand inked and hand pulled collograph. Matted and framed to 18” x 14”.

John Fansmith

Artist