Printmaking and the Sly moves

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I was responding to the Giclee print issue yesterday and had all these issues come into my head, that were a bit off thread.

There was alot of talk about authenticity certificates for editions of prints (hand pulled or otherwise), authenticity and worth generally.

My questions is: Do you think that printmaking has a bad reputation as a real art form? Or has some "artists" ruined it for everyone else by being sly?

I'll give you an example that I know of (and I am sure there are thousands of scams out there):
There is an "artist" in Australia called Ken Done. He is a commercial tourist artist to me who had it big in the nasty, money hungry 80's. He used to, supposedly... print an edition of silk screened prints of say 800. Sign each 100 from 1-100 and send them to the different states and territories in Australia, pretending it was just an edition of 100.

That is low. Sure you are all going to say it is low... but what do you really think about the value of print making? Do you see it as a seperate artform, or some means to an end to get your work out to as many people as possible.
I am not talking digital prints.

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Ken was only screwing is own reputtation. He was counting on noone comparing edition numbers, yet, on the other hand, he was hoping to become a noted arttist. Kinda dumb. what would have been wrong about printing a bigger edition and numbering consecutively instead of trying to make everyone feel they were getting a low number. ?

Did he even pull his own prints?

When I did intagliios, I always ran an edition of 200, but maybe , I only printed 50 because , its a real PITA to print all day on a star wheel press. however, chemisttry and light fastness aside, An intaglio (etching, stone litho, aquattint , etc) are usually produced by te artist .
I suppose a certificate of authenticity is good , but , it too can be as much a fake as anything.

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well of course he was screwing his own reputation...
I am sure all the Japanese tourists that bought his kitch beach scenes still do not know he did that kind of editioning.
You can bet he has/had a few art slaves.

Yes, exactly, I never pull the whole edition either - and I rarely do more than 10... you are extremely motivated to do 50 on a star wheel.

Glad to hear about the certificate, I had the feeling it could be a scam of some description if in the wrong type of hands. I guess all art practices have or can have some things that can let in the dishonourable side of human nature... like anything.
Just takes the wrong (or right) type of person.

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I've never heard of certificates being asked for or offered.

I tend to keep editions sizes small as well as I don't want to go on printing something for ever. the signature and edition number should be sufficient, though with dishonest artists like the one you mention, this could be unreliable, as would any certificate offered by that artist,

I quite like collagraphs, which are self limiting as the plate deteriorates.

Silk screen has never appealed to me - I find it rather flat but know people who love it and produce excellent work.

I have some collagraph plates ready to print when I can find the time to go into the workshop.

I enjoy etching and aquatint.

what kind of printmaking do you usually do Ben? and do you have your own press?

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I usually do multi plate etching, using a computer (using PhotoShop actually) to generate the transperancies I used to expose the plates in a photographic manner.
Then it is all the same as usual, metal, acid... I love it - but there is only so much I can take at a time, which is good, becase I tend to only do it in Italy, (sounds pompus, I know).

I have done lino, colligraph and silk screening. Although silkscreening, when I was at art school was becoming a banned thing, or you had to have the hardcore breathing aparatus. That put me off a bit. Mind you - printmaking isn't exactly the most user friendly thing in the world. My mother is convinced i am sterile with all the chemicals I have touched over the years.

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Warhol is likely the most famous artist to ligitimize silk-screening as a medium. This was what set off the commercial enterprises who began copying original work and they used to get away with calling them original prints. In the state they are in now with all the documentation one can reel off, these prints are still not allowed to be marketed as fine art in European countries. It takes the U.S. (and Japan, incidentally) to climb on the money-making bandwagon, although the window to make money off an artist who takes off with the unknowledgable public is usually five to seven years. Twice burned, thrice learned doesn't seem to work here as many who fancy themselves collectors will be around to be fooled again.

Original print making, that is a hands-on creation of plates and inks handled by the artist as well as hand-pulling the print is every bit as viable a medium as any other. Aquatint is especially difficult to learn and execute and even limestone plate lithography is not for amateurs who could likely pass off a half-way competant oil painting as professional.

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yes the chemicals in silkscreen were lethal weren't they?

we now use vegetable oil to clean the ink of etching plates so that at least is more environmentally friendly than white spirit and I use baby oil to clean my hands (kinder). The acid cupboard, even with extractor fan is probably not a good thing and the aquatint is lethal stuff - extractor fan and masks here.

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I remember in my art program, I was already a faculty member in geochemistry . I made a royal stink about the term "mineral oil" in plate and tool cleaning and ink hinning. The original stuff was pure BENZENE.
Now all the veggie oils arent only safer, if you heat em in a muffle, they smell like lunch.

ben-when I did photo screens , I used a ulano photo sensitizing, what is available now? I havent done any photo etch for years, when I did, I used multi plates to do color and often, id do embossing, so that a subject appeared as a bas relief

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I prefer MEK. Especially since one can sniff it and get outrageously high.
Mr. Green

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we still use all the self-destructive chemically cleaners.

I've been doing a lot of intagio lately, and I'm really enjoying it. I find that I focus more on what I'm doing when I know I can make more than one image from it.

What's a collograph?

Mezzotints start to go bad after about 30 prints. I've been French - wiping (rubbing on with my bare hands) the suckers myself lately. My fingernails look horrid.

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portal, if your dept is still using hexane or benzene based cleaners and thinners, dont use em, they are class 1 carcinogens, and its no ****. Its especially bad if youve got history in your family.
Sub to the veggie oils and even ketones . the only problem with ketones is that they are a bit explosive in the right mix with air.
printing was always a bitch. We should use filter masks (VOC cannisters)

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portal - collagraphs are using mount card as the printing plate.

The way I use it is to incise lines with a scalpel (these print rather like drypoint lines, a lovely slightly fuzzy quality), peel back the top layer (this creates tone, something like aquatinting) and sometimes use sand (holds the ink to give intense darks) or thin threads which emboss, PVA glue painted on creates highlights (like the unetched sections of a printing plate)

The plate is then sealed with straw hat varnish (shellac -meths based varnish so that it doesn't lift when inked up)

a few people use lots of intaglio, with lace and lentils and lord knows what stuck on the plate - they can be rather coarse and gross done like that

inking up is as for an etching

all these used together create a lovely quality of print but you maybe only get half a dozen before it deteriorates (crushed by the press) too much for further prints,

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In the past (and yes we can still get it in Europe) we use this fabulously toxic thing called Rockifort, or something like that... (not sure of the spelling). But there is another product that the owner of the Studio would prefer we use called Eco-resist. The later you can get in the US, unlike the Rocki.

I decided to use the Rocki in September (due to it sometimes allowing more detail), and considering I hadn't actually done any real printmaking in such a concentration for four years, I felt completely choaked. Not breathing, trying not to expose more than five plates a day... ridiculous.

No mineral oils there either, I forgot about them, we were using them to clean up in a studio I worked in who did colligraphs limited edition prints of "famous" Australian artists oil paintings...

No wonder my mother gives me hell. Mother's can't help it.

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There are many bad solvents on the market like tri-chlorethyelene (the main ingredient in a spray dry cleaner I use and am very careful with it). None of them are healthy to breath including acetone which is the usual ingredient in fingernail polish remover. MEK works fast and is heavier than air (I was being facetious about taking deep breaths) yet will even break down uncured epoxy! What I would suggest if you don't have a good ventilation system in your studio to at least operate a fan and have windows open. In the dead of winter, that's likely impossible in many areas. There are mechanical appliances which will remove most of the fumes. That's why I do like MEK although do not use it to clean brushes as it will attack many synthetics and dry out natural hairs. Farmerman is, of course, right about staying clear of solvents which are known carcinogens. MEK is not.

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I am no expert but I enjoy looking at prints made from etching or engraving. These processes add an effect you don't see in a regular drawing.

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well, you know there is ventillation, but I never feel like ANY ventillation is enough. I am just being paranoid.

Welcome Wandeljw!
I get to welcome someone! Very Happy

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benconservato,
Thanks for the welcome. I wanted to express that as a consumer, I definitely believe printmaking is a separate artform.

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you are right... it does attract a different type of "client" - I sell more prints than anything else. I think people look at it as a more affordable way of having original pieces of art. Instead of paying a larger amount for a painting they are scared they will hate in a few years time and regret the purchase.

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farmerman wrote:

portal, if your dept is still using hexane or benzene based cleaners and thinners, dont use em, they are class 1 carcinogens, and its no ****. Its especially bad if youve got history in your family.
Sub to the veggie oils and even ketones . the only problem with ketones is that they are a bit explosive in the right mix with air.
printing was always a bitch. We should use filter masks (VOC cannisters)

We use kerosene, isopar - G, rubbing alchohol, acetone.

Plus the usuals - asphaultum compounds and acids.

I know there is a good amount of lead in the zinc plates which makes me nervous.

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it is amazing isn't it?
I try not to eat food with too may preservatives and I do a form of art making that requires me to use nitro, asphaultum, kerosene (the acid we use is a salt, so not so bad, don't use the pine resin either)...

I am sure I am not the only one who thinks constantly about it.

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Printmaking and the Sly moves

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