Misfits

This is the work of John Stezaker who is currently exhibiting at Whitechapel Gallery.  He uses old photographs and images taken from magazines and press shots, minipulating and collaging to create a different meaning, which often shows a witty side to the artist. Hollywood has a huge influence on his work, his fascination with the golden era of movie stars is shown in each of his collages. He takes a glamourous portrait and minipulates it, turning it in to a humorous image.

http://www.theapproach.co.uk/artists/stezaker/

Sketchbook Pages

Lovely Bones

I have joined up to a printing press called St.Barnabas Press in Cambridge so I can produce some up to date prints for my portfolio. I am currently working on a series of etchings of butterflies and moths, and have just finished a dry point of a human skull. I want to move onto looking at the form of a body - a protective shell which capsulates us. I am enjoying having open access to a working press and all the facilities that are available to me, I will put up some of my etchings asap!

I've been looking at the artist Doug Selway, and a series of dry points he produced after visiting a museum. His etchings look exactly like drawings, the scratchy lines that an etching produces really shows the structure of the bones, showing the shadows and marks that bones posess.

http://stbarnabaspress.com/

Two Faced

By Robert Crumb

Afterlife

Today I visited a print exhibition called 'Afterlife' at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

I saw recently produced prints by Jake and Dinos Chapman, Paul Coldwell, Jane Dixon, Hughie O' Donoghue, Marc Quinn, Paul Morrison, and finally Mat Collishaw, whos work I am very interested in.

It is a collection of work by some of the most renowned Printmakers, all concentrating on the theme of 'Afterlife'. There is a feeling of fragility and mortality within the small exhibition of prints. From Mat Collishaws photogravure prints of dismembered moths and butterflies, to the small and disturbing etchings by the Chapman brothers. I was very impressed to see how they curated a group of artists whose work is very different into one small exhibition room, and all using a similar theme. I liked the range of print techniques that I saw, from very traditional hand printing, to large scale digital print.  

Jake & Dinos Chapman

Paul Coldwell

The inspiration for these prints came from the media footage from the Baghdad bombings, the dots and blurred background represent both the carnage and the quality of the footage we saw on the news. He places a personal item in each print showing what was left behind after many lives were taken. 

Maurizio Anzeri

Anzeri is an artist that I have discovered recently through an exhibition I visited. He uses found and personal photographs in his work, using delicate hand embroidery to distort faces of the people in his images. The way he contorts these photos almost looks a bit like picassos many heads that he famously painted, a jigsaw of bright colours and rounded shapes making up a face. Many of the photo's he uses look antique - and were probably once very special to someone, which adds to the humour and brilliance
of his work.

http://www.saatchionline.com/MaurizioAnzeri

The Illusionist

Richard Wilson has a permanent installation at the Saatchi Gallery, consisting of a room full of thick black oil. Using reflections, he has created an illusion called '20:50' where the viewer can stand in the room, feeling as if they are surrounded by oil.

Maybe he was trying to make a statement about our obsession with oil, and the over consumption of it. Why should so much fuss be made over this destructive liquid?

Destruction of beauty

The following etchings are by the artist Mat Collishaw, printed at Paupers Press in East London. He uses striking electric colours in his photogravure etchings, which intensify the black background. He minipulates and destroys the delicate insects, contorting and breaking their wings. This series of work by Collishaw is very similar to Damien Hirsts collection of butterfly prints.

I was lucky enough to visit the printing studio whilst studying on my Art Foundation course last year. We were able to see all the preperation which goes into professional printing and how much involvement the artist has in the process. We were shown original prints by Paula Rego and Damien Hirst that have not yet been published.