CROP CIRCLES takes the RUST BELT technique a step further. In CROP CIRCLES, a hard plate is inked fairly heavily and while it is still wet thin pieces of layered and unsealed cardboard are applied as a resist. Additional ink is applied and the plate is allowed to dry. Because some of the ink is absorbed into the cardboard, the cardboard layers separate during printing creating a collage or chin colle effect. Matted and framed to 14” x 11”.
There is an ethereal quality to NIGHT VISION, a monotype which uses the same printing technique as RUST BELT and AT THE EDGE, but a very different palette in order to give the feel of looking at the world through a different lens. Matted and framed to 18” x 14”
APPALACHIA #2, a companion print to APPALACHIA #1, uses the same technique and palette to convey essentially the same impression but with a focus on the trees and landscape rather than the coal mines. Matted and framed to 18” x 14”.
Appalachia is a beautiful land – but a land despoiled; a land of coal mine waste, pollution and poverty – a land desolated; a land of opioids, Don Blankenship and Donald Trump – a land of desperation. APPALACHIA #1 is a hand inked, hand pulled monotype in the RUST BELT Series. Matted and framed to 18” x 14”.
John Fansmith