THE UNZVERSITY OF CALGARY
Printmaking: A Contemporary Perspective
A Written Accompaniment to the Thesis Exhibition
BY
Wendy Alexandra Tokaryk
A PAPER SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
DEGREE OF MASTER OF FLNE ARTS
DEPARTMENT OF ART
CALGARY, ALBERTA
September, 2000
O Wendy Alexandra Tokaryk 2000
1*1
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Abstract
This paper supports and expands on the Fine Art Thesis Exhibition entitled Stills
In Time. This essay will: 1. Define my approach to printmaking and defend my practice
2. introduce the concepts embodied by my work 3. discuss artists who have dealt with
similar concepts and discourses which are the basis of my graduate research 4. engage in
an analytical discussion of the work presented in the exhibition.
Chapter 1 introduces the development of my methodology and defines my artistic
practice. Chapter 2 deals with concepts I have researched such as marks, layers, space,
architecture, environment, and symmetry. Histories are the topic of Chapter 3. Chapter 4
is a summary of Chapters 1,2, and 3, and concludes the support paper entitled
Printmaking: A Contem~orarvPers~ectiveaccompanying the Thesis Exhibition Stills In
Time.
Acknowledgements
Thank you very much to the University of Calgary, Department of Art, for my
Graduate Research Scholarships. Thank you to my Academic Advisor, Carol
MacDonnell, for her feedback, insight and for proofing my support paper. Thank you to
Peter Deacon and Arthur Nishimura for their input and chaIIenges throughout my two
years in the MFA Graduate Program. A special thank you to my Graduate Supervisor,
Bill Laing, for his continued support and encouragement. Thank you also, Bill, for the
opportunity to travel to the Royal College of Art in London, England. I gained
invaluable knowledge as a result of my studies at the RCA. Finally, thank you very much
to my parents and family for their love and support.
Table of Contents
Page
..
Approval Page .....................................................................................................................
11
Abstract ...............................................................................................................................
111
Acknowledgements
........
.................................................................................................
iv
Table of Contents.................................................................................................................
v
List of Figures ....................................................................................................................
VIL
Chapter 1
...
*
.
Introduction: Defining a Practice....,.......................................................... 1
1.1 Development of Process and Technique ............................................
2
1.2 Additive and Reductive Processes...................................................... 4
1-3 Texture and RelieE .............................................................................6
1-4 Mixed Media.......................................................................................
Chapter 2
6
Concepts and Sources................................................................................ 10
2.1 The Mark...........................................................................................
I0
Information and Communication.................................................... 10
Translation of Marks.....................................................................
11
The Use of Text as Marks ..............................................................12
2.2 Content and Form .............................................................................
16
Layers: Remnants and Residues................................................... 16
Veiled Images .......................................................................
18
Collecting Layers.................. .
.
.......................................... 18
The Psychology of Space.....,........................................................ 20
Scale and Installation ............................................................ 24
Architecture. Environment. and Symmetry................................... 26
Syrnmetry.............................................................................. 27
Chapter 3
Histories: Metaphor and Narrative......................................................... 31
3.1 Robert Rauschenberg ........................................................................
1
3 -2 Personal History............................................................................... 36
3.3 Prints Have Histories Too................................................................. 39
Chapter 4
Thesis Exhibition: Conclusion ..................................................................
4.1 Summary ...........................................................................................
41
41
The Final Image.... ......................................................................... 43
Figures ...............................................................................................................................
49
List of Figures
Figure 1. Wendy Tokaryk "Inspiration" 1998 Serigraph
Figure 2, Wendy Tokaryk "Love Poems 111" 1999 Serigraph and Etching
Figure 3. Wendy Tokaryk "Journals and Maps" 1999 Serigraph and Rhoplex
Figure 4. Wendy Tokaryk "Framing Myself I" 2000 Mixed Media and collage
Figure 5. Wendy Tokaryk "Untitled (Ghost)" 1999 Embossing and graphite rubbing
Figure 6 . Wendy Tokaryk "Windows" 1999 Serigraph
Figure 7. Wendy Tokaryk "Texts" 1999 Etching
Figure 8. Wendy Tokaryk "Framing Myself I" (detail) 2000 Mixed Media and collage
Figure 9. Leon Battista Alberti "Facade - San Andrea, Mantua, Italy"
Photograph by Wendy Tokaryk 1998
Figure 10. Andrea Palladio "Teatro Olympico (Interior caveu) - Verona, Italy"
Figure 11. Wendy Tokaryk "Notexpage 1" 1999 Mixed Media
Figure 12. Wendy Tokaryk "Notes:Page 2" 1999 Mixed Media
Figure 13. Wendy Tokaryk "Remnants I" 1999 Mixed Media
Figure 14. Wendy Tokaryk "Remnants 11" 1999 Mixed Media
Figure 15. Wendy Tokaryk "The Source" 2000 Mixed Media and collage
Figure 16. Wendy Tokaryk "Imprints" 2000 CoIlograph
Figure 17. Wendy Tokaryk "Diamond Sutra I" 2000 Mixed Media on tar paper
Figure 18. Wendy Tokaryk "Diamond Sutra 11" 2000 Mixed Media on tar paper
Figure 19. Wendy Tokaryk "Time Remains I" 1999 Mixed Media on tar paper
Figure 20. Wendy Tokaryk "Fragments I" 2000 Mixed Media on tar paper
Figure 21. Wendy Tokaryk "Fragments I" (detail)
Figure 22. Wendy Tokaryk "Star Phoenix, 1943" 2000 Mixed Media and collage
1
Chapter 1 Introduction: Defining a Practice
I am an artist who is well-versed in all aspects of printrnaking and comprehends
the extensive terrain which printmaking encompasses (this is not to say I have mastered
all aspects of the medium). 1 began my journey as a traditional printmaker learning the
cmft involved in creating basic silkscreen, intaglio, and lithographic editions. Throughout
the course of my studies I have traversed this terrain many times over searching for the
right combination or 'feeling7 obtained through experimentation. Over time, my
relationship with printmaking became more complex as I became intimately engaged with
its visual language. As I understood it, the diversity, the complexity, the variables, and
the infinite possibilities presented a lifetime of research. To me, it was not unlike the
exploration of a mountain range; it would take a lifetime of study to master this
landscape. I knew at the outset of my introduction to printrnaking in 1988 (a much
cruder version of the methods I now use) that this was an area of incredible fascination
and f b l f h e n t . I knew it was something of which I would never grow tired.
The inclusive aspect of printrnaking gives me great pleasure. I see it as a medium
that can utilize the vocabulary of sculpture, painting and drawing. It can aIso utilize
photography and digital media in very direct ways. When I consider all of this - the
medium of printmaking and all that falls beneath its umbrella - it represents an innovative
medium that does not delineate strict boundaries. Even though there is a strong historical
and traditional component to printmaking (which can imply strictness) its history
demonstrates change and inclusiveness as part of its traditions.
It is this comprehensive understanding through analysis that I refer to as
'knowledge'. I feel my knowledge is not only that of technical skill but also that of
conceptual insight. I am not concerned with what the narrative of a 'picture' is trying to
imply and I am not concerned with making a 'picture'. My research deals with the
meaning behind my desire to use print as my primary form of communication, the places
fiom which I retrieve the information contained within my printed images (meta-prints),
how each printed Iayer reacts to and combines with the other, and how all of this
information inscribes itself in the 'fmal image'. The thesis exhibition Stills In Time is the
concentration and 'fmal image' of how I have chosen to use and represent the objects
which have resulted from the process I have just described. I mean by 'final image7 that
the exhibition itself will be the find impression the viewer is left with. Individual objects
or works may stand out in a viewer's mind but the totality of the exhibition is what will
make the impact. This is the 'fmal image'.
1.1
Development of Process and Technique
It was evident from the onset of my research at the University of Calgary that I
was simultaneously both a traditional and non-traditional printmaker. It was as though I
had a split personality: one who felt intensely pressured to be the very 'traditional'
traditional printmaker and the other whose curious nature wanted to experiment and
research. If I was to remain a dogmatic printmaker then my research would primarily
involve firmly establishing my grasp of the genre by developing the subject matter of my
work and demonstrating my technical skills by producing extensive editions. This not
only seemed tedious but also anti-productive to a real definition of research. I opted to
shake off any imposed definitions of printmaking. This led me on a course where I had
the freedom to experiment by working in series consisting of unique prints rather than
editions. I was able to utilize any and all printmaking mediums separately or
simultaneously, to concentrate on the development of my concepts rather than being
preoccupied with technicai perfection, and to incorporate new methods of applying
silkscreen materials by painting the inks directly onto the prints' surface. I further
investigated the inclusion of paper collage on the print surface as well as incorporating
materials new to me such as Rhoplex (acrylic clear medium). However, even though some
of my experiments did not result in successfil prints, I have increased my vocabulary o f
expression and have sifted through a mind 111 of ideas which utilized processes I will
apply in future work.
A quotation from Nancy Spero in an interview with Jo Anna Isaak illuminates
how I have felt about my research over the Iast two years and helps to clarify my
introductory statements concerning the 'final image':
My next work, Notes in Time on Women, took three years to do - 1976 to 1979.
If we include Torture of Women, which was originally planned as part one of
Notes, then it took five years, but the information gathering had begun long before
that. It was like working on a book, a solitary activity. I had to sequester myself.
Rarely was anybody interested enough to ask to see my work in those days and I
had nothing to show for years, I was stockpiling images and quotations, and
printing them and collaging them directly on the paper. Then, in the last few
months I put everything together.'
Furthermore, when I previously referred to a "real definition of research" my analysis o f
Nancy Spero's work helped me understand that, like Spero, 1am trying to find my
working method but at the same time, once I find it, to constantly disrupt it. I feel this
aptly describes my approach to research in the arts. I a m simultaneously trying to
disrupt any set methodology and to make resolved prints. There is difficulty in resolving
'Quoted from Nancy Spero in Jo Anna Isaak, Nancv Srsero,
(New York:Phaidon,l996), p.21-23.
4
new work because I am continuously forcing myself into 'new' and unfamiliar temtory.
However, there is a methodological approach which is to upset previous means of
creating work. I find working in series allows me to constantly find and lose my way as I
can explore several possibilities existing in a single body of work (which, for example,
might be comprised of 10 individual prints). This approach allows my working method
to change and progress rather than remaining fixed, formulaic and static.
When I begin new work I am aware of what I want to create. This differs from
having a set picture in one's mind and working toward it as a finished product. My work
incorporates and synthesizes several visual elements that have been gathered over time. It
is the effect of the synthesis of these elements that I envision as the finished print. For
example, I may have an image of a woman's face which I cut out of a magazine. Using a
photocopier I enlarge and distort the face so that it is no longer identifiable as the original
image. I print the transformed image over several layers I have already printed. This
transformed image not only contributes and is relevant to the visuai information contained
within the pre-printed and multi-layered surface, but also adds to the formal aesthetic
considerations of the print. I feel very akin to Spero when she states that what
determines the f ~ s h e work
d
is "a kind of logic, the visual look of it and the rhythm - the
meaning it has for me .... I really don't like to work with a total preconception of a
finished piece, I find the process is very tense and exciting."'
1.2
Additive and Reductive Processes
In general, printmaking is thought of as an additive process. This is the process
by which the print is made; ink is applied to a plate, stone or silkscreen and the print is
'Jon B i r d , Nancv S ~ e r o , (New York:Phaidon,l996), p.68.
5
born. However, the process of creating the matrix from which the print is lifted involves
reductive processes. This duality interested me and I began to incorporate this
information directly into the surface of my prints. Through trial and error of various
applications my work has evolved to incorporate eIements such as surface scratching,
manual sanding, and sandblasting. Other reductive methods include reducing a print by
tearing or shredding and adding it to another surface via collage. I utiIize additive methods
to create surface texture by employing silkscreen, etchings, collograph, painting,
embossing, and more, in my work.
In his essay on Cy Twombly, Heiner Bastian writes "Of some of his paintings,
Twombly once said, that they were similar to collages without actually employing the
technique of ~ollage."~
I feel this is true in regards to my own work. The earlier work I
developed for my undergraduate exhibition was especially indicative of this method
(figure.1). I layered mylar over top of mylar to create a pre-made version of an image
with black and white photocopies. I had cut up, pieced together and then layered images
in a complex manner. I proceeded to reproduce these pre-made images in color. I printed
one color over another using transparent inks so that the end product produced a
composite image; strata of transparent colors. My graduate work developed out of this
methodology and proceeded to incorporate new media and approaches. As well, I
employed a method of construction by reusing unresolved serigraphs as frames for text
based etchings (figure.2). Eventually, I began experimenting with Rhoplex by applying
several coats of the material over each printed layer, resulting in an actual physical
division between the printed strata (figure.3). This process of experimentation
culminated in the work I produced while on exchange at the Royal College of Art in
'~einerBastian,
p.13.
Cv
Twomblv, (New YorkrNew York University Press,1985),
6
London, England. This work was primarily silkscreen, aIthough heavily embellished with
mixed media as well (figure.4).
1.3
Texture and Relief
The tactile quality of the printed surface is important in my work. Often
silkscreening can appear flat and bvo dimensional due to its planographic nature. I
attempt to use the medium of siikscreen to create the appearance of depth and threedimensions on the two-dimensional surface. I want to demonstrate the use of silkscreen
beyond the purpose of two-dimensional image reproduction. There tends to be a
superficial quality in the surface of prints; a print speaks about an image rather than the
inherent qualities of the medium. The "value" of the print lies in the reproductive quality
of the image, not its ability to reveal meaning. The success of the print is measured by its
perfection. This introduces a contemporary component to my approach to printmaking;
I am exploring outside the boundaries of what constitutes excellent traditional
printmaking. When I attack the surface of my print it is a metaphor for attacking the
established orthodoxy of traditional printmaking; I see it as attacking the rigidity of
something that has upheld itself as dogma.
1.4
Mixed Media
The incorporation of non-traditional means of printmaking and the inclusion of
non-archival materials may concern some curators and collectors. The fact that I attack
the integrity of the pristine print surface through additive and reductive methods, as well
as collaging paper and fabric materials on its surface, is considered taboo in traditional
printmaking. To demonstrate why I have chosen to approach print media in this way I
w o d d like to use a quotation fiom Heiner Bastian in a catalogue essay examining Cy
Twombly's printed work:
His attitude towards all purely technical possibilities of printing was too vague,
and the essence of his painting was definitely incompatible with the procedures
demanded by graphic techniques. Working in a printer's studio, the necessary
cooperation with the printer, checking, changing and modifying the plate after the
first trial prints up to the final edition - all these factors spoke against this
medium. The production of a print is subject to conditions of a kind that
automatically limit the artist's freedom in deploying his materials. Each printing
method is only applicable according to its own inherent structure; or expressed in
a different way, plates, screens or stones possess certain unique autographic
qualities. Each printing process assumes reflection upon the forms of translation.
Printmaking involves a series of disciplined and logical steps which may become
very complex indeed as soon as several processes are combined to make a single
print. Obviously, the reality of a painted image especially in Twombly's case manifests itself under much freer conditions. Paint is a raw material, a matevia
nuda that can be applied directly to the canvas without the aid of tools, using the
fmgers or squeezing it straight out of the tube. Nothing separates this physical act
fiom the immediacy of each gestural or even psychically influenced action.'
The comparison between painting and printing makes for interesting and extensive
analysis. I agree with many of the stereotypes that Bastian alludes to when one considers
print media. The processes involved in printing a serigraph or an etching plate can hinder
spontaneous acts. The mode of printing can be monotonous when printing an edition.
However, while using a silkscreen or an etching plate which has images 'fixed' upon the
matrix, one can be spontaneous if one dares to break fiom traditional modes of printing.
4 H e i n e r Bastian, &C
p . 9-11.
Twomblv, (New York:New Y o r k University Press,1985),
8
The potential spontaneity of serigraphy (for example) is limited by the ideology or the
constraints imposed upon the printer by herself. Ink can be applied to the stencil on the
silkscreen in a number of different ways: a silkscreen squeegee is only a tool (as is a paint
brush) but one could theoretically push the ink through the screen using one's fingers just
as paint could be applied to a canvas in the same way.
I both agree and disagree with the statements Bastian made concerning translation,
autographic marks, and gesture. Bastian states that "Each printing method is only
applicable according to its own inherent structure; or expressed in a different way, plates,
screens or stones possess certain unique autographic qualities." Bastian is correct in his
observation that each type of matrix contracts gestural marks defined to an extent by the
matrix material (e.g. copper, steel, ink on mylar, etc.). Bastian is suggesting that the type
of mark obtained from a specific matrix refers back to its matrix and, therefore, limits the
freedom of the gestural mark. This is what Bastian means when he writes "Each printing
process assumes reflection upon the forms of translation." Granted, this is a sensitive
and accurate analysis, but more can be gleaned fiom the concept of translation where
Bastian stops short. There is also a certain amount of translation that occurs when an
image is printed from one surface to another (especially when the print surface is copper
or silk and the printed material is paper). However, it is my argument that the amount of
information lost in the gestural mark resulting fiom the print matrix and through the
process of printing (or translating) is minimal, especially considering the advent of high
density silkscreen mesh and high DPI resolution available through digital printout. The
material essence and responsive psychology of the gesture that Bastian refers to when he
states "Paint is a raw material, a materia nuda
... Nothing separates this physical act from
the immediacy of each gestural or even psychically influenced action" can be retained
9
throughout the processes of printmaking and very little 'pure gesture' lost. The concept
of translation is in itself a fascinating idea when considering process. To disregard the
conceptual and metaphorical potential of this concept in printmaking is to completely
disregard postmodernism and revisionist history. It is important to note that even though
Bastian made this statement in 1985 these biases still exist as I have witnessed them
firsthand.
I approach printmaking with this attitude. However, according to established
defmitions my prints would not be considered prints at all. They should be described as
mixed media. My development as an artist has largely been as a printmaker and I feel my
work has evolved from concepts born out of my intimacy with this medium. I find it
tedious to dwell on delinitions but I also feel I must acknowledge this controversy. The
history of printmaking has been plagued by what constitutes an original print. The ethical
arguments concerning 'original prints' versus 'reproductions' concerns me as the general
public and collectors have been misled through the dissemination of misinformation.
However, I am not trying to misinform an audience or a buyer, as my work is original in
that it is one-of-a kind made by the artist's hand. I prefer to refer to my work as unique
prints or monoprints. I am unlike the traditional printmaker in that 1 no longer engage in
the production of print editions. I am like-minded to a traditional printmaker as a result
of my training and the fact that my artistic practice occurs primarily in the printmaking
studios, experimenting and challenging my approach to art making.
10
C h a ~ t e r2 Conce~tsand Sources
Simone de Beauvoir looked a t the world around her with an unflinching
-
gaze. A look into old age, love, ethics, women's status the list goes on. De
Beauvoir revealed the embarrassing, the unspeakable, in her observations
of the human condition. Did she speak so frankly without the mediation of
her art?
How am I to speak frankly, to state what I consider of moment, to observe
and document what is occurring now? I can speak most directly (though
often, by necessity, obliquely) through painting o r printing, articulating by
hand, by brush - rather than by word, by mouth. The transformations of
thought become visual notes, the figures hieroglyphs and the language
(when used) borrowed.
The performer's body is her actual vehicle. The artifact (artist's product) is
a symbolic embodiment of the visual artist. Expression may be abstracted,
but the body is present even if in disguise.
Painted and printed images of many types are substitutes for my body. So if
these works are ignored, I lose identity; since my persona is identified by
my art, I a m silenced. Whether the a r t is praised o r reviled, once received it
enters a public o r external discourse. My body, my presence mediated by
the mark on the paper, is no longer absent. I speak.'
Information a n d Communication
It is the practice of visual artists through research to develop a vocabulary as a
necessary means to express visual information. Information can be acquired by means of
literary text or understood as visual images and signs. Visual communication utilizes
complex systems of signs and signifiers in order to communicate meaning to the viewer.
% m c y Spero (Artist's Wxitings:Sky Goddess-Egyptian Acrobat,l988),
Nancv S ~ e r o , (New York:Phaidon,l996), p.140.
The operation of signs, signifiers, and signifxed is commonly known as the study of
semiotics. Much of the study of semiotics concerns the study of humankind and habitual
social conditioning. The ways through which we understand signs have been a
development of society and are sociaIIy constructed. Fundamental to information and
communication is the basic structure of signs and visual language; marks and mark
making.
Visual images can be interpreted via a system of signs and signifiers just as a
simple mark can reveal something personal and intimate. There are autographic qualities
to the marks that individuals make. They not only reveal biomechanical ability and
locomotion but also mood and emotion. Marks can contain a variety of information about
individuals who make marks and can even go so far as to express an individual's
psychology. This process of understanding the meaning of a mark is not unlike an
archeological excavation or deciphering one's chromosomal makeup.
Translation of Marks
The artist who uses marks as her primary vehicle for communication understands
that through translation a certain amount of information is loste6 When a viewer observes
an etching where the subject matter consists of a huge gaping scratch obtained by dragging
a drypoint needle across the surface of a copper plate, one may be cordbsed by its
simplicity. To interpret this mark one has to use the facilities of imagination to decipher
the meaning of this simple gesture. Many would sit and ponder asking "What does this
mean?" It may allude to the artist's bodily physical disability or pain. It may also refer
6~ranslation= from an artist's mind - to paper - to public audience
(concept - object - viewer - interpretation). I begin with a concept.
One manifestation of a concept is an object. The object can be
presented to an audience who give individual interpretations of the
object.
12
to a mood like anger or one more solemn engaging the viewer in a space of contemplationIt may have no meaning or may be intended as an existential reference. Unfortunately, the
artist can not be present to offer these kinds of interpretations and must trust the viewer's
individual knowledge and interpretive ability to guide one intuitively, philosophically,
technically, etc., through the process of translating the mark.
When I use marks in my prints it is my desire (but not imperative) for the viewer
to comprehend my intended meaning. I understand that even the most straightforward
works of art may be lost to the uninformed viewer. Artists who create visual objects
based on esoteric art theoretical issues pose a difficulty for the layman whose task is to
comprehend the art object. This difficulty involves not only the extraction of meaning
but also understanding how the object affects the 'real' world. It is important to me to
utilize my vocabulary of marks, processes and my abiIities to convey meaning to an
audience. Concomitantly, an artist can not sacrifice the conception of an object so that it
is more accessible to an audience. An artist's vision should not be foregone to obtain
clarity at all costs.
Translation of the art object can sometimes be hit-or-miss but the fact that
viewers derive a variety of interpretations &om a single object reflects a society where
multiplicity is tolerated. It is an important aspect of my art not to dictate meaning but to
acquiesce control over my work and allow for multiple translations of my marks.
The Use of Text as Marks
Text is evidence of thought process; an intellectual activity simultaneously
expressed as a gesture. Text is written using one's cerebral h c t i o n , the movement of the
body, and from the response of writing materials upon a surface. Free association writing
coupled with a tactile response to matter or substance is an aspect of some of the layers
within the strata which constitute my prints.
There is a contingent aspect of chance in this approach to writing; an attempt to
access data or information fiom the subconscious mind. I consider this a free-form
approach to the use of text. What happens in this attempt to translate something from
the psyche into a visual "written" form? What is lost? Is anything lost? Some may have
the opinion that since the resulting 'textY7is not presented in a form that is didactic and
legible there is no meaning. Furthermore, in order for an individual to derive meaning from
text it must represent language in a literal way so that we can associate concepts, ideas
and meaning through semiotic application. Oppositional to this opinion is the belief that
marks can refer back to the psyche as residual forms; a gesture of the symbiosis between
mind and body. Jo Anna Isaak discusses the concept of subverting language by reversing
the viewer's habitual relation to language:
...rather than looking through the printed word to the meaning it is intended to
convey, the viewer is invited to look at it....the viewer is asked to let go of the
imposed sigtuftcance [of language] and focus instead upon something far more
eIusive.'
Elements of experience are lost through literary translation (no matter how well one
writes); experience itself is reduced to a description of an experience as one can never
emotionally get back to the "being there". Rather than bogging the viewer down with
descriptions and poetic words, I choose to allow the poetics of my marks to signify
documentation of experience through text- This is not unlike literary documentation in
the form of a journal.
'JO A n n a Isaak, Feminism & C o n t e m ~ o r a r vArt:The Revolutionarv Power of
Women's Lauahter, (London and New York:Routledge,1996), p-121-124.
14
Text can be used in a way that demonstrates the elusive quality of meaning and
may refer to the artist's body, as I have stated. The texts in my prints can be considered
an extension of the body. Through the actions of drawing the artist posits physical
evidence in the form of marks. The physicality of the artist's body who made the marks
is present as gesture within those drawn marks. There is a sensory and a psychic
remnant that is embodied in these marks. The mark can tell us a story if we care to look
longer than a brief moment. Specifically pertaining to my work, text (in conjunction with
visual references of my choice) brings forth a story different from that of an
autobiography or a chronology.
Although printmaking has been considered by some to be a less direct method of
mark making it can be immediate. If you break fiom traditional modes of printing (e.g. the
edition) and what constitutes an edition, the artist can posit hisher evidence of the
physical body within the print. Just as a footprint is Ieft in the sand so is the remnant of
the artist's body. This physicality is very important in my work. It is important to
make a unique mark.
A quotation from Heiner Bastian discusses the affective use of text in Cy
Twombly's work:
The declared aim of the proposition is its effective use of language. What does
this mean?...Twombly's "writing" rushes with the heartbeat of meaning
that breathes even with what has been lost, like something incomplete or endless
that rather than the h c t i o n of signs possesses only sensation.'
' ~ e i n e rBastian, Cv Twornblv:Das Gra~hischeWerk 1953-1984 A Cataloaue
RaisonnG of t h e P r i n t e d Graphic Work, (New York:New York university
Press8198S), p.17-19.
Rather than creating a 'picturef that functions as a set of signs to operate in
semiotic mode, Twombly uses "writing" to function as sensations that evoke the same
fiom the viewer. The elusive quality of his writing evokes sensation rather than using
descriptive text to describe what the viewer should feel. The loss of the literal quality o f
text creates a new need in the viewer who is forced to relate with the texts on a sensory
level.
History, including its tears, is a pale sequence; no one is capable of collecting it as
emotion...,In Twombly's work we are confronted with this idea: to reconcile the
form of lived lives with one's own, that is, to make it vital. Writing allows
everythmg and resists nothing; it is only the soul that delineates, with a bitter
hand, this unrecognizable physi~gnomy.~
History, in "factual" documentary style, loses its emotion and becomes only a
chronology of events. Twombly confronts the viewer with this idea; that it is important
to utilize language and writing in ways undiscovered, to enrich personal experience and
rememorate history. Writing has the ability to evoke the senses if we transform it by
subverting its semiotic function. Bastian's poetics explains the soul's inability to
recognize the physiognomy of writing because its semiotic form h c t i o n s on a cerebral
level. Words have specific, defined meanings in the English language. Mathematical and
intentional writing do not allow the reader to use instinct and sensation as pan of
interpretation; the traditional k c t i o n of writing does not affect the soul. By removing
the literal characteristics of writing, it can now resonate in the soul of the viewer.
'Heiner Bastian, Cv Twomb1v:Das Gra~hischeWerk 1953-1984 A C a t a l o c r u e
Raisonne of the Printed Graphic Work, (New York:New York University
Press,1985), p.21.
2.2
Content and Form
Layers: Remnants and Residues
The information that makes up the individual layers of my prints draws upon
many ideas, some of which are mark making, text, and texture. A necessary component of
the layer is the presence of something beneath it or in addition to it. There are many
types of layers, for example: physical layers like strata found in geological processes,
psychological layers as in the Ego and the Id (Freud), temporal layers like historical
periods, and emotional layers which can be expressed. A Iayer can be absent or unveiled
as a result of a reductive process (erosion); layers are removed and added as time passes.
Surfaces are changed by exposure to natural processes like sunlight, wind, and gravity as
well as unnatural processes such as pollution and physical wear. Buildings and humans
are similar in that the processes of time change their shape and ability to function as they
degenerate.
I am interested in the conceptual aspects of Rachel Whiteread's and Ana
Mendieta's work in that they both either leave imprints upon or lift marks from surfaces.
Whiteread filled an empty closet with plaster and destroyed the mold making structure
after the plaster set. What was left is the ghost of a space, a memory, or a remnant of
something that once existed as pure space inside the form of an object. Taking these
molds is like taking an imprint of negative space.
Ana Mendieta left behind imprints of her female silhouette after her performances.
Her silhouettes eroded, degenerated and were ephemeral:
Ana did not rampage the earth to control or dominate or to create grandiose
monuments of power and authority. She sought intimate, recessed spaces,
protective habitats, signaling a temporary respite of comfort and meditation. The
17
imprint of a woman's passage eroding and disappearing, the regrowth of grass or
the shifting of sands or a carved bgrnentary relief, a timeless cycle momentarily
interrupted, receiving the shape of a woman - a trace, such as the smudged
body-print a victim of fire might leave, or a shadow, the recessive mark left by a
victim of the bomb in Hiroshima or Nagasaki...If one of her sculptures were sent
to a distant planet or were kept sealed for thousands of years on earth, it would
still convey the imagery, strength, mystery and sexuality of the female human
form - woman's body inscribed."
A mark on a surface is a remnant of a passing body. My prints embody this
phenomenon through process and application of multi-layering. The images and textures
I incorporate in the strata utilize rubbings and photocopies; the lifting of textures created
by the eroding of surfaces or the products of pre-existing images (figure.5). The finished
print is a composite of marks - an aggregate of meaning. I see my prints as the corporeal
response to engaging with both environmental and creative psychological spaces;
physical presence and tactile memory are present within my prints.
It is necessary to incorporate as many layers as possible into the finished print. I
consider the technique of 'overprinting' a signifier for the labor involved in the craft of
printmaking. I also believe my prints would otherwise appear to have been obtained with
ease if they were simplified. It has been my experience that printmaking is a labor
intensive craft and, therefore, evidence of that labor is a necessary conceptual component
within my prints. The layers are evidence of labor and the prints' dense appearance
enables me to derive aesthetic pleasure. The evidence of physical and mental labor is
visually apparent through layering, collaging and hand work which work to create rich
surfaces; one of the most prominent aspects of the finished prints.
"Nancy Spero (Artist's Writings:Tracing Ana Mendieta,l992), Nancv Snero,
(New York:Phaidon,l996), p . 139.
Veiled Images
The layers that comprise my prints help to create a sense of depth and space
within the two-dimensional surface. Layers are overlaid, overprinted, and eventually
covered beneath transparent veils of white (figure.6). Rosalind Krauss examines Rachel
Whiteread's sculptures describing a similar motivation for veiling layers in my prints:
In the casting process the original, the recognizable object which the work seems
to be 'about', is lost. What is left is a residue or a reminder, a space of oscillation
between presence and absence."
This veiling gives the viewer the sense of hidden visuals beneath the surface,
which have been purposely obliterated and partially obscured. What remains is enough
residual information allowing the viewer to understand that, at one time, the veiled layers
were easily perceived. The transparent white veils are covered over by additional printed
layers to create the effect of spaces existing within spaces. There is simultaneously a
receding and an encroaching quality to the work - a push and pull.
Collecting Layers
Toni Momson describes a type of recall she refers to as 'rememoration'; through a
retelling of the past (either visual or literary) history is activated through the readers'
"reliving" of the experience recounted." The culmination of collected images which inform
my prints is intended to suggest such a narrative. The images I choose from text books
and the photographs from my personal albums are examples of the sources I utilize to
''Rosalind Krauss, et al, Rachel Whiteread:Sheddinu Life (London:Thames
and Hudson,1997), p - 8 I2
Toni Morrison, The Site of M e m o n r in R-Ferguson, et a1 (eds), Out
There: Marainalization and Contemworaw Cultures, (New York:The New
M u s e u m of Contemporary Art, 19911, p-299-305.
19
rememorate my history (by this I mean not only my life experience but also historical
events which preceded my birth and have impacted my lo~ation'~).
The collected images
that compose the print strata are accessed from a variety of sources. The "excavation" of
a print in order to bring the meaning of each image contained within its strata would take
forever; it is simpler to state that these image choices have mixed personal implications.
This quotation from Rosalind Krauss points out the similarities between casting
and fine art photography:
Photography, like casting, combines that which is present with that which
is other - the residue of the original which advances and retreats in the
mind of the viewer.... Memory of this object slips in and out of experience
of the sculpture. Looking at Whiteread's sculpture entails a kind of
mapping of the remembered on to the present."
In Whiteread's sculptures, the original form from which the object is made is
eventually destroyed; shortly after the artist obtains her desired result, the mold from
which the sculpture is cast is destroyed. This phenomenon also occurs in printmaking;
the silkscreen, the copper plate, or the lithographic stone is eventually retired once the
printer obtains her result. It is part of the viewers' experience when they realize the
images, once contained within matrices, now exist exclusively within the layers of the
object. The print is, therefore, a "residue of the original". When Krauss discusses the
"mapping of the remembered onto the present" she refers to the act of association
whereby the viewer realizes the arrival of one object by death of another. One remembers
ere, the word "location" is used to describe my identity as it
pertains to my class, gender, age, race, and geographical locale14Rosalind Krauss, et al, Rachel Whitexead:Sheddina Life (London:Thames
and Hudson,1997), p.11.
20
the history of the means of production by being confronted with its product.
En masse, the layered images compose a personal narrative. The collecting of
images from text books, photographs I have snapped, drawings I have made, journals I
have written, etc., help to create a personal journal which 1narrate visually. This endows
the prints with meaning and becomes the soul of the work.
The Psychology of Space
Some of my work is an expression of an internal state. A state of mind. A
psychological place/space.
The printed layers bring a spatial element into the prints and give them a sense of
depth. This depth is important as it represents a psychological and contemplative space.
The space personifies the virtual space of my psyche engaged in a process of making.
The work is not only an externalization of an internal space but also a result of engaging in
that space.
The fact that the prints I create exist as families is important to highlight when
discussing the concepts of layering and space. Each print consists of different groupings
of images and random layers which are intended to represent changing states. This state
of change expresses forward but yet non-linear movement in time. When the prints are
exhibited together one can witness the materialization of this concept.
A quotation from Nancy Spero's journal describes her concept of layering as a
type of collage:
My ideas on using collage technique are related to the fleeting gesture, moments
(indelible impression) caught in motion. The rhythm of the whole, seemingly
discordant and incomplete, relates to fractured time - as well as the immediate
external realities that impose themselves on my consciousness[..I
"
Spero describes the usage of collage as a method that enables her to rapidly capture
moments that might otherwise be lost. Time passes quickly and the utilization of collage
technique allows her to condense a flurry of information into one space. The appearance
of the collage and its out-of-order references relates to the discontinuity of time; what we
subliminally record as our experience can manifest itself in ways that do not mimic
reality.
Heiner Bastian discusses a Cy Twombly painting and compares it to a Twombly
graphic work. Although I do not agree with his analysis of a print, Bastian's description
gives rise to interesting speculations concerning the psyche of the artist and its
relationship to the development of the image:
The structure of a Twombly painting equals the evocative permutations of a
structure of the psyche, which flashes and fades and whose form reveals itself to
the senses solely in its own description. None, or virtually none, of the poetic
realm of these images can be captured as the reality of transient experience on a
printing plate. The semantics of each print contains a hidden proposition, it is the
proposition that the discourse cannot be interrupted, or change direction
spontaneously. A print is above all an image of degrees of effect, that arises from
a monologue. The canvas, by contrast, requests the mirrors of the whole subject,
to traverse a meaning that is exhaustive, without degrees.I6
Bastian describes painting as being autonomous; it describes both itself and the
"~ancySpero (Artist's ~ritings:Viewpoint,1972). Nancv S ~ e r o .
(New York:Phaidon,l996), p.129.
16Heiner Bastian, C v Twomblv:Das
Gra~hischeWerk 1953-1984 A Cataloaue
Raisonng of the Printed G r a ~ h i cWork, (New York:New York university
Press,1985), p.11.
22
psyche fiom which it came. The transient experience of creative psychological
occupation can not be captured on a printing plate because the poetics are lost in
methodology; printmaking in its structure can not be spontaneous and is limited by
procedure. Bastian believes that painting allows one to explore terrain that is beyond any
other medium. The terrain described is the internal psychology of the painter and its
manifestation upon the canvas. This describes the psyche to itself using the means to
describe the method; the painting is equated to the permutation of a structure of the
psyche. There are small but important aspects to the psyche that make it what it is, that
make it unique. It can only be talked about or described using a visual language or a
method of its own nature. Language or any other means to describe the intemal structure
of the psyche fails.
I agree with portions of Bastian's analysis but I also believe it could apply to any
number of visual media (including printmaking). This analysis works better to describe
the phenomena concerning creativity and the object created rather than a comparison of
media.
Jon Bird discusses Nancy Spero's work and references the psychological
implication of figure/ground relationships and the psychology of space:
Figure/ground relations are of fundamental importance in Spero's work. Space
signifies: it has narrative and formal value, it is bounded and architectural, or it is
unbounded and suggestive o f either the 'infinite' (the implication of endless
extension as with some of the installations), or of the 'void' - the concept o f inner
space or the loss of the self threatened by the presence of the death drive."
"Jon Bird, Nancv S ~ e r o . (New York:Phaidon,l996), p.60.
23
The poetics of this quotation acknowledges concepts I embody in my work. The beauty
of this description lies in its aff'iiation that many ideas can exist simultaneously within a
two-dimensional space. Regarding the figure/ground relationship, the text in my work
expresses the existence of my body within a context. The spatial effects within the twodimensional surface of a print (a result of the layered strata) is representative of my
psychology as a result of this context. I feel that the use of text coupled with the illusion
of space is as narrative as a literary journal of documentation.
Rosalind Krauss discussed Rachel Whiteread's work in an essay for her exhibition
at the Tate Gallery in London:
Whiteread has spoken about casting in terms of removing a surface from one thing
and putting it on to another, of 'taking an image'. She has compared the process
to the making of a death mask. In such a mask it is the surface which provides the
key to the object's identity and, in doing so, involves the viewer in an imaginary
assumption of that identity.'"
I find the reference to the process of making a death mask and its relation to
Spero's statement concerning "the concept of inner space or the loss of the self
threatened by the presence of the death drive" fascinating parallels. Whiteread's work is
interesting (when one considers the idea of inner space) in that her casting process is
about casting the spaces inside and around things; the negative space which helps to
define the object's identity. Referencing the surface of objects and the space they contain
or occupy gives Whiteread's work a metaphysical quality. The work has a very physical
presence but this physicalness by contrast references the non-physical quality of space.
"~osalindKrauss, et al, Rachel Whiteread:Sheddina
and Hudson,1997), p.14.
Life
(London:Thames
24
The contrasting qualities of her objects allow us to see what is materially absent. Her
objects seem "body-fied" through the presence of gesture and pose. Furthermore,
Whiteread demonstrates the human body's relationship to both the material and
nonmaterial worlds (especially regarding the loss of spirituality in contemporary western
society). Whiteread's objects simultaneousIy exist in both worlds and may or may not be
inanimate. By removing a surface fkom its original context (a photo, a rubbing, a
photocopy) and reusing it in another place and time I reactivate inanimate objects
(figure.5). These images contained within the objects I create are recontextualized once
they are transplanted into the gallery.
Scale and Installation
Depending on the medium I use, the scale of my prints can range from very small
(2" x 3") to very large (89" x 60"). When printing with the medium of etching, the time
consuming technique of wiping plates tends to be monotonous. I choose to work within a
set of dimensions that is manageable and does not prolong printing time. The etchings I
produce utilize text and are intended to be seen as personal letters or inscriptions
(figure.7). The tiny scale forces observation within an intimate space and creates a oneto-one relationship between viewer and object. This idea is similar to a clairvoyant and
her relationship with the crystal ball; there is meaning to interpret depending on one's
power of perception and use of imagination.
The large scale silkscreens are intended to be viewed from distances both near
(micro) and far (macro). Serigraphy (and its immediacy in printing) is more conducive to
large and mural size prints. Framing Myself I (a print I produced while at the Royal
College of Art) utilized serigraphy as the major medium in conjunction with drawing,
collage, and hand work (figure.8). The varied materials, surface texture, and evidence of
25
process entice the viewer to approach the work for closer scrutiny. The work is tiled
together to comprise a large image in which my figure is the central subject. The viewer is
seduced by the surface quality and the images which comprise the whole; the relationship
is one of conjecture, uncertainty and transience where the viewer fluctuates between the
two poles. This sets up a rnicrocosm/macrocosm dichotomy where each print contains
tiny details (the microcosm) that exist within the space of the print (macrocosm).
Nancy Spero discusses the viewer's relationship to her prints and the installation
environment when viewing her work:
In order to view it one has to change position, to move close or W e r away
according to the size of the images (some are extremely small), to move along as in
reading a manuscript, or to move W e r away to view it in its entirety
[..I1'
My hope is that a viewer will not only engage one-on-one with individual works but also
engage with the environment. The audience is not intended to remain static (as a seated
individual who watches a screen) but to immerse oneself by activating the installation
space with body performance. It is my intention to engage the viewer by encouraging
movement through variety in scale and installation composition. It is my opinion that
scale is always first determined by comparison with the human body. The use of scale
encourages the viewer to approach the work by juxtapositioning their body and, thus,
drawing attention to this relationship. Larger works may appear as extroverts in a crowd
whilst smaller subjects, more unobtrusive and introverted. These types of human
characteristics are amplified through manipulation of scale, the viewers' relationship to
''Nancy Spero (Artist s writings :viewpoint,1972 ) , N a - n c v S ~ e r .o
(New York:Phaidon,l996), p.129.
scale via their bodies, and through consideration of presentation.
Architecture, Environment, and Symmetry
My interest in making prints does not only concern process and the construction
o f meaning, but also concerns formal aesthetics. This is due to the fact that my artistic
practice has a history of incorporating formal concerns and fundamentals which 1feel are
of equal importance to my expression. The formal models I use derive not only from art
history but also from architectural canons,
The reference to classical models is not so literal that it is readily apparent in my
work. Qualities I have observed of specific structures and their building materials are
referenced through a textural description on the surface of my work. Through my
analysis of classical structures distinguishing characteristics strike me: their
monumentality, their ghostly nature, and weathered facades. In these constructs time is
personified; architectural structures remain fixed but are simultaneously constantly
changing, like the human body; thus is the nature of their elusiveness.
Architecture not only creates structured functional space but also serves as a
container for human emotions. Architectural space is inscribed though human interaction
and reflects our emotions; just as we see ourselves in a mirror we see our experience
reflected in our structured environment. Space is simultaneously both absent and present;
negative space is represented by what is physically absent and positive space is solid
mass. The presence of absent space is amplified by the projection o f one's emotional
psychology; space is not seen but experienced as memories through recall of events and
personal history. Therefore, the space within my prints is not only a psychological
space but a reference to the projection of my emotional psychology within a certain space
related to specific moments.
The context of contemporary architecture and the cityscape is described only in
part by formal and compositional design elements. Vernacular architecture and landscape
also enter into interpretation even if they exist only on the periphery of this context.
Foreground/background, inside/outside, privatelpublic, and cityscapefiandscape all affect
the psychology of people who, through personal interaction, interpret space. The
context of environment is imprinted on the psyche of a person who simultaneously
inscribes the experience of architecture as part of the identity of space.
The production of cultural artifacts as art objects occurs within locai and,
increasingly, global contexts. The presence of multiple media such as photography,
television and the internet have increased the production of visual media substantially
within the past 100 years. The increased traffic of visual media creates a saturated
environment which envelops the infrastructure of the cityscape both inside and out. The
old and new coexist in a world that, although contradictory, embraces both technological
evolution and sentimentality for the past. My awareness of this complex and saturated
context affects the work I make in both conscious (deliberate) and unconscious
(contingent) ways.
Symmetry
Symmetry is most recognizable as a classical concept embodied in the art of the
Greek and Roman periods. Later, Renaissance artists and architects adopted these
notions of classicism and a rebirth occurred. The monumentality of the objects created
during these eras has had a profound impact on my studies and my art practice. The
harmony of proportion, the evidence of thought, and the labor of process are most
obvious when I contemplate works such as Leon Battista Alberti's facade of San Andrea
in Mantua (figure.9) or Palladia' s Teatro Olympico in Verona, Italy (figure. 10). I have
28
sat and marveled at these structures and have understood the passion behind the creative
process. Objects created by emotional hands convey knowledge of the concept of style
and have the ability to project the artist's creative experience within the contents of the
surface and structure.
An object (a building, sculpture,etc.) requires the correct proportion of parts
according to its own design. The "correct proportion of parts" is different for every
object. One must approach each object differently fiorn the one made prior to it. If the
maker has an understanding of the materials helshe is working with (as well as the
intended design of the object) this knowledge will guide her intuitively through the
process of making. The resulting object will achieve beauty - one aspect being correct
proportion.
When considering symmetry many types of structures come to mind:
architectural buildings (the Basilica), the human body, and almost anything found in
nature (plant or animal). It is most obvious that symmetry was not a concept created by
man but adopted by man from nature. Symmetry is a phenomenon that has existed in all
matter and is the structure which underlies all organic material things. We marvel at the
complexity of nature as well as its ability to repeat itself and achieve a state of perfection.
There is a sense of balance and harmony in the mirror image of one perfect half because it
makes a whole; there is order.
Necessary for symmetry to exist there must also be asymmetry. There are many
examples of this. The structure of the human body (the skeletal system) is symmetrical
in that we have two hands, two feet, two eyes, two legs; this is known as bilateral
symmetry. The human body has externaI and skeletal bilateral symmetry. Even though
we only have one heart, one brain, one liver, etc., which are mapped asymmetrically
29
beneath the external bilateral structure, each of these organs is symmetrical within itself.
If we cut them in half according to their central axis we would find symmetry. The brain
is structurally very symmetrical but there are specific areas that control motor, neural,
and sensory fhctions. In these ways the body is simultaneously symmetrical and
asymmetrical, which is necessary for optimal fimction.
This analysis of symmetry has enabled me to understand the importance of
symmetry in my work:
1. The processes of etching, silkscreen or lithography dictate that symmetry is inherent
in the nature of the mediums. You can not obtain a "printy' without two halves or sides;
you need a matrix and another surface onto which the image is transferred. The concept
of symmetry is ccinvoluntary"in the process of printmaking as is breathing for life.
2. The concept of symmetry is "layered" in these prints, but not necessarily a physical
bilateral kind. The prints themselves do not have two halves; at one point in time each
layer had a twin that existed as a screen or a plate. Eventually, the image on the screen or
the plate was either removed or changed, deleting the bilateral half. My prints in
themselves are very asymmetrical.
3. The presentation of my work incorporates the concept of symmetry. It is important
for my work to be seen as families. I work on families of prints concurrently and as an
individual print takes shape it is "finished" and pulled from the lot. Others may take
longer and, therefore, consist of more layers while some may never be fmished. Presented
as families, the work reveals evidence of a process saturated with thought and history.
When the prints are presented in the context of the gallery the walls act as edges
or boundaries, as do the edges of a piece of paper. I compose my work within this space
in a way that gives me pleasure. I need balance and rhythm so that the composition gives
30
the space an atmosphere of harmony and contemplation. Symmetry, proportion, and
ratio come into play at this stage.
At the very least I hope my work is not only contemplated formally but also
gives the viewer time and space to contemplate the process. I have the need to create a
space that enables the viewer to be drawn into the minutest detail of the work but aIso
allows them to stand back and contemplate the whole. Secondly, I hope the viewer can
experience a virtual space and contemplate aspects of life in the context in which it exists.
This virtual space is a place in the mind where one can "see" and understand a greater
picture in which they are onIy a small part of a continuum.
Chanter 3 Histories: Metashor and Narrative
It is important to understand the initial purposes behind the development of
print media and its mechanics. How did printmaking contribute to art history? To fmd
the answer I felt it was necessary to educate myself in the history of printmaking; in
doing so I hoped it would inform my practice, leading me in new directions and heling
innovation. It came as a creative boost to understand how many printmakers adapted
print technology towards the creation of fine art and to study the variety of objects
produced.
I feel the need to belong to a tradition with a history but at the same time there is a
desire to be unique. I do not want to be repetitive by revisiting past artists' work, but at
the same time I feel it is essential to realize their processes. I believe my evolution as an
artist must involve a certain amount of revision in order to learn and progress. I think it is
important to understand what our predecessors achieved in order to build upon acquired
knowledge and in doing so, contribute to contemporary progress.
3.1
Robert Rauschenberg
The twentieth century American artist Robert Rauschenberg has been the most
influential historical artist whose work 1have studied. I referred to the works ofNancy
Spero, Cy Twombly, Rachel Whiteread and Ana Mendieta throughout the body of this
essay. I have dedicated a section to Robert Rauschenberg to highlight the significance his
work has had on my practice and research. One of Rauschenberg's first forays in
printmaking occurred between 1948 and 1949 at Black Mountain College:
The fust work was a woodcut or perhaps a series of woodcuts, entitled This is the
First Halfof a Print Designed to Exist in Passing Time. Beginning with an inked
32
woodblock upon which no image other than the wood grain itself existed, a single
impression was taken. A single line was cut, then two, then three, with the idea
that finally the composition would be entirely white. Fourteen pages were
printed and the potential infmity of the project is clearly conveyed. It is one of
the early instances that the abstract of time, infinitely long or short, open ended or
tightly constrained, is presented in Rauschenberg's work. The inference of time or
direct use of the objects of time occurs frequently and repeatedly throughout
Rauschenberg's work."'
The metaphor of time which Rauschenberg incorporates in his work is obvious
when I study his prints. His photographic images and their juxtapositioning with others
are brilliant yet subtle, engaging the viewer, and challenging them while avoiding
didacticisrn:
The Silkscreen Paintings, like all of Rauschenberg's art, demand close looking; as
the artist himself once said, "looking [like listening] also had to happen in time."
His self-proclaimed aim was "to make a surface which invited a constant change of
focus and an examination of detail," a surface sufficiently rich in form and concept
to reward scrutiny by both the eye and mind."
The element of time has significance in my work. Time (as it pertains to the
changing facade of architectural constructs and the human body) is personified by surface
through reductive and additive layering (such as the accumulation of silkscreen strata
similar to a geological process). Time also refers to the act of remembering. Virtual time
is experienced when one uses the facilities of imagination to transport herself into the past
'O~obert Rauschenberg, Robert ~auschenbera:~rints
1948-1970,
(Minneapo1is:The Minneapolis Institute of Arts,1970), p.1 Introduction.
" ~ o n iFeinstein, Robert Rauschenbera:The Silkscreen Paintinas 1962-64.
(New York:Whitney Museum of American Art,1990), p - 2 3 .
33
via the act of rememoration: a "mapping of the remembered onto the present"" occurs.
The images I use activate both past and present time.
The impressions of ordinary objects are depicted in Rauschenberg's work. The
idea of peripheral vision is referred to by alluding to objects and impressions present in
our daily lives but their lack of centrality allows them to go unnoticed:
The Automobile Tire Print was done in 1951; it is an indicative forerunner of two
elements about Rauschenberg's work as an artist: the use of everyday objects as
an integral and direct part of his compositions, and his utilization and
manipulation of a chance occurrence into an ordered artistic arrangement?
Rauschenberg focuses our attention on the unobtrusive objects of daily life and their
greater metaphorical significance by making them central to his compositions. These
objects give his work a strange and elusive quality forcing the viewer to ask the question
"What does this mean?".
The idea of chance is an exciting component in Rauschenberg's work. The fact
that he was unfamiliar with silkscreen and, therefore, used it in unconventional ways,
became part of his methodology. His lack of knowledge gave him the 6eedom and
absolution to approach this medium in a unique and dynamic way. Chance can be
indicative of chaos; however, Rauschenberg was able to incorporate accidents and random
occurrences into musical and rh-c
arrangements:
Unlike many other artists, he has not approached printmaking in a preconceived
22~osalind
Krauss, et al, Rachel Whiteread:Sheddina Life (London:Thames
and Hudson,1997), p.11.
"~obert Rauschenberg, Robert Rauschenberu:~rints1948-1970.
(Mimeapolis:The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1970 ) , p - 1 Introduction.
34
manner or with prejudgment. His most inspired pieces have been created fkom
ideas at hand and the spontaneity of artistic creation. Throughout all his work one
senses his willingness to experiment and his great ability to capitalize on the
result.24
Rauschenberg is an open minded artist who cares little for definitions and
delineating boundaries between mediums. The fact that he incorporated photography in
his lithographs and silkscreens, the use of sculpture in work like the Combines and for the
ROC1 (Rauschenberg Overseas Cultural Interchange), as we11 as having a background in
painting, makes him diverse and without fear of experimenting with whatever means is
necessary to carry out an idea. The fact that Rauschenberg utilized many mediums and
accepted anything as having the potential for printing, supplied him with endless source
material and unbounded vision:
Lack of preconception and recognition of the unique possibiIities in working on
stone, not paper or canvas, suggested that the approach acknowledge this.... My
lithography is the realization and execution of the fact that anything that creates
an image on stone is potential material. The image that is made by a printer's mat,
a metal plate, a wet glass or a leaf plastically incorporated into a composition and
applied to the stone, stops h c t i o n i n g literally with its previous limitations.
They are an artistic recording of an action as realistic and poetic as a brush
stroke?
Rauschenberg's methodology (utilizing the effects of chance and multiplicity)
enabled him to work in a focused disorder. He never became tired of his methodology
because, by its essence, it allowed him to constantly apply image after image and move
24RobertRauschenberg, Robert Rauschenbera:p r i n t s 1948 -197 0
(Mimeapo1is:The M i ~ e a p o l i sInstitute of Arts,1970), p . 3 Introduction.
bid, p.2-3 Introduction.
35
from one canvas to the next. He focused on groups of works simultaneously rather than
invariably working on one fiom start to finish. Rauschenberg is able to remain pure and
productive without restraints through constant renewal of his approach. His
methodology gave him the freedom to express himself in ways conducive to specific
bodies of work. This ideology is stylistically embodied in his work:
The exigencies of the silkscreen process also led Rauschenberg to work on several
paintings simultaneously. After the fust few, he engaged three or four at once,
sometimes as many as eight.
[never used to work on more than one thing at a time, but with silhcreens
you have to open so much paint that it doesn't make much sense to do that....I like
working on several this way, because you 're not so likely to get hung up, or to
work schemingly. You keep moving. And when yozr come back to one, and it
hasn 'Imoved automatically while you were away,suggesting something new, you
just go on to the next. Which isn't to say that yorr don't sometimes get hung up on
all of them at once?
It is not only Rauschenberg's methodology and unconventionality that interests
me but also the uniqueness of his life. There is an element of chance that has occurred
throughout his life, beginning with the time and place he was born (1925, Fort Worth,
Texas, U.S.A). His life has been a series of calculated moves and spontaneous events
establishing the manifestation of his celebrity. Rauschenberg lives in an era where time is
accelerated and the world is in rapid transformation; the changes he has witnessed within
his lifetime are prodigious. His works are stills in time, expressions of a moment, and
encapsulating; both he and his work are as genuine as his experience and embodied art
" ~ o n i Feinstein, Robert Rauschenbera:The Silkscreen Paintinas 1962-64,
(New York:Whitney Museum of American Art,1990), p.42.
objects.
Personal History
The voice of an individual is important to acknowledge if we are to understand all
histories - not only the dominant one. I collect images I feel are relevant to my history
and simultaneously refer to the history which preceded me. The history I a m closest to
(after my own) is my mother's. She is my closest genetic link and her narration has
enabled me to learn my pre-history. Her voice imparts an oral history which allows the
"look back" to become personal rather than a removed experience. In A Room of One's
O w n Virginia Woolfsaid that "a woman writing thinks back through her mothers"." This
quotation can be interpreted to convey the idea which I have just described. In this
quotation, the use of the term mothers may reference the literal usage of "mothers"
(mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, etc.). The intended meaning is that
knowledge is passed &om one generation to another via oral histories. I also have
considered that "mothers" could refer to our fore mothers from all preceding generations
as our mothers. We have learned to negotiate the female body (personally and socially)
by acquainting ourselves with their documentations. This concept adds another element
to the idea of layering within my work. Knowledge is layered and endless; a complex
system of "knowing".
What I attempt to achieve through visual narration is to document both ordinary
and extra-ordinary aspects of my life. The components that constitute the layers within
my prints symbolize my history and life experience in both direct and non-direct ways.
The more elusive elements (which I feel reflect my peripheral vision and experience) are
included as layers within the prints; just as the individual voice is necessary in the
"JO Anna Isaak, Feminism & Contem~orarvArt:The Revolutionarv Power of
Women's Laushter, (London and New York:Routledge,l996), p . 7 ,
37
documentation of history, so is the inclusion of the periphery in the recollection o f
experience. I collect moments in time, signified
by the stilled images, within the space of
my prints. Jo Anna Isaak identified this idea when discussing a body of work with the
artist Nancy Spero:
What you document in the panels on contemporary history are just incidents in
the lives of ordinary women."
History continues to impact the present even though the word itself describes
past occurrences. Nancy Spero discusses the idea that history is simultaneously reflected
in the present while remaining in the past:
...Gertrude Stein's use of repetition and her term, the 'continuous present'. That is
a good term for what I'm doing. The history of women I envision is neither linear
nor sequential. I try,in everyhng I do - from using the ancient texts, to the
mythological goddesses, to H.D.'s poems on Helen of Egypt - to show that it all
has reverberations for us today. And then it makes sense."
Spero bridges the gap between the past and the present by rememorating ancient images
and more recent and tragic histories. As the artist, Spero is present and engages in a
dialogic relationship through her juxtaposition of images in her installations. Nancy Spero
observes and engages; she conducts an unembellished analysis of history and attempts a
forthright depiction of the context in which she is immersed:
I wanted to depict women fmding their voices, which aptly reflected my own
developing dialogue with the art world, that somehow I had a tongue and at least a
"Jo Anna Isaak, Nancv S ~ e r o , (New York:Phaidon,l996), p . 2 3 "Ibid, p-24.
part of the language of the world, there was an interchange. I'm speaking of
equality and about a certain kind of power of movement in the world, and yet I'm
not offering any systematic solutions.30
Spero discusses the fact that understanding the histories of her fore mothers becomes
empowering knowledge. The knowledge this imparted to Spero allowed her to come to
terms with her relationship with the art world. How do we negotiate ourselves and our
bodies as we exist within this world? Directly after Spero poses the question she admits
to having no answers. This is the point: through critical analysis and a continuously
active dialogue one remains dynamic through inquiry. The "answer" is about not having
an answer. The answer is to continue to negotiate our bodies rather than becoming a
definition or a cliche. The answer is that the process of negotiation has to continue to
occur rather than becoming fixed in a particular way of defining ourselves.
The following quotation describes Spero's intention behind the use of her collage
technique. The technique is a metaphor for Gertrude Stein's term the "continuous
present" :
The collages, with their overprinted, fragmented repeated polysemous images of
the female body, will never resolve themselves, never offer wholeness, unity, and
c~mpletion.~'
There are universal aspects to the concept of the "feminine"; there are aspects of the
feminine life that do not change fiom one generation to the next. The coming of age (rites
of passage) for the female body is very similar fiom generation to generation, culture to
'OJO
Anna Isaak, Feminism & Contem~orarvArt:The Revolutionarv Power of
Women's Lauahter, (London and New York:Routledge,1996), p.27.
lL1bid., p.27.
culture; it is about corning to terms with one's role in society:
...Gertrude Stein says, "It is never necessary to say anything again as
remembering but it is always said again because every time it is so it is so it is
SOV*
The concept of a continuous present is referred to in this quotation. In this instance,
remembering does not only concern memory but concerns that-which-is-remembered as
actual. For some, what existed in the past is the reality of the present; the past, through
repetition, has become manifest reality for another.
Prints Have Histories Too
My prints each have a particular history which makes them unique prints. All of
my prints undergo the same process but their subtleties set them apart from each other.
The layers of my prints reference my own history within the terms already mentioned.
Similar to Nancy Spero (as she states here), I am interested in analyzing and drawing
attention to the fact that my prints have histories too:
The studio is the location for a form of artistic production that is essentially
performative: it is spatial, durational and staged, a series of discrete actions that
together constitute the history of the work. A procedure is established, a ritual
marked by the rhythm of bodies interacting in the process from conception to
realization. The process itself is intertextual - from the initial stages of fabrication
flow any number of visual narratives.33
"JO
Anna Isaak, Feminism & Contem~oraxvA r t : T h e Revolutionarv Power of
Women's L a u c r h t e r , (London and New Y o r k : R o u t l e d g e , 1 9 9 6 ) , p . 2 7 .
"Ibid., p.69.
40
The information presented on the surface of the print reflects stages of time as witnessed
by the artist. The concept of history as an historical chronology is only one kind of
history being referred to. When I study my prints after their completion I regard them
not only as conceptual objects but also as records of time and place; emotional amd
eventful. They evoke memories and become comparable to time lines of incidents,
peoples, places and things.
In the following quotation the surfaces of Rachel Whiteread's sculptures axe
discussed as a record of the object's history (the pIace it came from and its unique
history):
The surface of the sculpture provides the site of exchange between destruction and
creation, the oscillation between what is known and what is other...-The detail of
Whiteread's surfaces.-.helps to supply the viewer with the structures which gave
them form. The surface of the sculpture is the point of contact between cast and
original, but also that between both cast and original and viewer: to understand
the space we are looking at we have to become the place £iomwhich it came."
Whiteread's sculptures are not only about their objectivity but also about recording the
past and the present. In reading the surface (the site of exchange) the viewer is fo.rced to
acknowledge the history of the object and visualize the process history of the object in
order to understand it. When looking at my prints I hope the viewer engages in this
analytical peeling of layers and imagines the mystery of the history.
'4~osalindKrauss, et al, Rachel Whiteread:Sheddinq Life (London:Thames
and Hudson,1997), p.12-14.
Chapter 4 Thesis Exhibition: Conclusion
4.1
Summary
The work by the artists Robert Rauschenberg, Nancy Spero, Cy Twombly and
Rachel Whiteread demonstrate concepts with which I identify and attempt to present in
my work. By comparing and contrasting concepts, processes and media with these
artists I have come to understand my process and the meanings within my prints. It is
important to understand what our predecessors accomplished in order to contribute to
contemporary progress.
Canons of art and architecture are known to us today because the objects
outlasted the bodies which made them. The idea that my prints could be "eternal" or
"timeless" gives them an aura of certainty which I do not have; although my body will
decompose after death my prints will remain in a tangible and material form. Art objects
are evidence of the maker's existence and give us insight into the psyche of their creator.
The evidence of the maker's body is present in many ways when one analyses the work.
One identifiable feature is the uniqueness of the maker's mark. I utilize marks in the form
of texts and drawings; a gestural mark is a physical extension of my body. Utilizing text
as a drawing element I posit physical evidence in the form of unique marks.
Changing the physiognomy of text by removing its literal function allows me to
spontaneously express myself through gesture; a symbiosis of mind and body. In this
way text is a corporeal remnant of subconsciousness. Non-literal text created through
fiee-form writing is coupled with my tactile response to materials. To some extent, this
approach relies on chance and results in the composition of the layers within my prints.
The finished print is a composite - an aggregate of meaning made up of marks,
collected images and textures. The most material aspect of this creative process is the
effect it has upon the surface: the building up and destroying of layers creates textured
tactile surfaces with illusory space. Information becomes densely layered throughout the
process of printing new strata. The varied strata represent changing states which express
the discontinuity of time. A visual narrative is created by overlapping the past and
present via a referencing of multitudinous visual sources with specific socid and personal
meanings. Many ideas and histories exist together within the two-dimensional space of
my prints. The work is saturated with histories which are linked by a continuous
dialogue; the resd t of engaging in environmental, emotional and psycho logical creative
spaces.
History and time are synonymous. The duration of the process deposits heavily
layered strata on the surface of my prints. Time is a metaphor for the process of renewal
and my prints personie the processes of life and death. Each print utilizes images that
have played a major role in the conceptual development of the work. These images and
their meanings are renewed or rememorated by recontextualizing them within the visual
textuality of the print. These images are like death masks in that they transfer
information from one surface to another, from one time period to the next; they
document impressions . My prints are composites of stilled images which activate
history and time. My thesis work signifies my creative experience of art making not
unlike documentation in the form of a narrativejournal.
My research established my methodology which I have described throughout the
body of this paper. There are elements of my method which occur by chance and, as I
have stated, I prefer to acquiesce control over aspects of the prints especially with
regards to interpretation. I consider the information contained within my prints as having
come to me through chance. The process of printing also relies on chance to a certain
extent; there is a randomness in the layering of images and the print as the finished
product is, therefore, a consequence of chance. The concept of chance enables me to
explain aspects of my work that may otherwise be impossible to define. Chance enables
me to remain objective and detached fiom the work The work has arrived not only as a
creative entity of my intellect but also a manifestation of its own design.
When I consider all information and meaning contained within the surface/space of
my prints the term "visual textuaIityUseems accurate:
Visual textuaiity is an apt expression for the complex relations of form, content,
viewer and context that constitute the visual field in which Spero's work exist and
are perceived....I
there is] engagement with her work on a number of Ievels in
terms of historical and cultural reference, formal and technical innovation, thematic
concerns, viewedwork relations, etc."
I can analyze the visual textuality of my work from an educated and intellectual point of
view but many reasons for How and Why 1am as i a m can not be explained; coincidence
and fate may or may not play a major or minor role in who and what I am. The work I
produce may also be of the same origin. My awareness of this complex and saturated
context exists as both conscious (deliberate) and unconscious (contingent) aspects of the
work.
The Final Image
The Thesis Exhibition represents only a selection of work from my two years of
studio research at the Uof C. The most recent works: The Source, Star Phoenix 1943,
Diamond Sutra I & 11, and Fragments I & I1 (figures 15 to 22) represent new possibilities
lSJo Anna Isaak, Feminism & Contemuoranr Art:The R e v o l u t i o n a m Power of
Women's Lauahter, (London and New York:Routledge,1996), p.42.
44
and directions for fbture work. In these works I have begun to shed traditional frames and
mats and have opted to float the work directly on the wall. There is an attractive quality
in this mode of representation in that the heavily embellished surfaces are not "hidden"
fiom the viewer behind a glass barrier.
I had originally thought of the exhibition space as a kind of sarcophagus; an
entombed structure containing silent and stilled objects. Working in a group situation
made it necessary to consider the entire gallery space; I needed to create an enclosed space
whilst leaving it "open" to the rest ofthe gallery. I feel I succeeded at finding an excellent
compromise. This ccimprornise also forced me to consider the Thesis Exhibition StilIs In
Time differently in comparison to what I had originally conceived.
-
I began to consider the
exhibition space as a time capsule rather than a sarcophagus. The latter spoke to me
about finality whereas the former implies new life in the hture.
When I consider the totality of the exhibition it is like a visual record.
Individually, the exhibition works are like documents; each is another page of the
narrative. This time capsule represents a dialogue in which my personal history is
considered. in this dialogue and through the creative process I have attempted to
understand how the historical and the personal enmesh. What is this relationship? How
does history impact the personal? What does history mean to me?
At times, I feel over analysis debilitates my enthusiasm for the business I am
engaged in. Fortunately, throughout my research and analyses I have acquired new
knowledge by answering questions while creating new ones. How does the concept of an
object differ from the material object? How does the process of conceptualization differ
from the process of creating a material object? Is artistic progress facilitated by
exhausting concepts through the creation of their material equal? To conceive of an object
45
differs fiom the actualized object in that through the creative process each new possibility
is eventually exhausted. Theoretically one could continue to act upon an object
indefinitely. My intention has not been to work in this way. My intention has been to
create objects over time but once they reached a "finished" state (as discussed on pages 3
and 4) I considered them finished. Even though this has been my intention I will not deny
the presence of the possibility that 1could continue to work with them in the future.
Through process I have come to believe that a before-and-after relationship exists
between the conceptual and the material; a reIationship not unlike life and death. In this
way, I equate the experience of my Thesis Exhibition to the feeling I get while watching a
loved one sleep. One is neither dead nor active but somewhere in between the two. This
is an uneasy place because it acknowledges the possibility of either life or death.
In total, I feel my Thesis Exhibition reflects an internal struggle and the questions
that have resulted. Not only do these works deal with the internalization of personal and
philosophical questions but also they are a reflection of a specific environment. The
academic environment in which I have been immersed for the last two years has affected
me in many ways; contradiction, frustration, misrepresentation, and sadness are a short
list of descriptions. Fortunately I have also received love, trust, acceptance, and felt
happiness as well. When I consider the totality of my experiences, interactions, and
environment I see balance and growth as my major successes.
The Thesis Exhibition Stills In Time is the progression of my research. The key
concepts which I discussed throughout this paper led my work on a path of discovery.
My studio research led me into territory which I had never before explored. I consider
the totality of the Thesis Exhibition Stills In Time as a map that may initially not make
sense. The work is a consequence of being lost in an unfamiliar environment; a mapping
of ideas and the directions they have taken.
Bibliography
Ackerman, James S. Distance Points: Essavs in Theory and Renaissance Art and
Architecture. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1991.
Bastian, Heiner. Cv Twombly: Das Grauhische Werk 1953-1984 A Catalogue Raisonne
of the Printed Graphic Work. New York: New York University Press, 1985.
Bastian, Heiner. Cv Twomblv: 24 Short Pieces. Germany: Schirrnerhdosel, 1989.
Bird, Jon. Nancv Suero. London: Phaidon, 1996.
Bowman, Alan K. The Roman Writing Tablets From Vindolanda. London; British
Museum Press, 1983.
Duncan, Michael. Tracine Mendieta. Art In America (April 1999, Vo1.4, pp. 110).
Feinstein, Roni. Robert Rauschenberg: The Sil kscreen Paintings 1 962-64. New York:
Whitney Museum of American Art, 1990.
Isaak, Jo Anna. Feminism & Contemporary Art: The Revolutiona~Power of Women's
Laughter. London and New York: Routledge, 1996.
Kotz, Mary Lynn. Rauschenbere / Art and Life. New York: Harry N.Abrams, Inc.,
1990.
Krauss, Rosalind., et al. Rachel Whiteread: Sheddine Life. London: Thames and Hudson,
1997.
Oosting, J. Thomas. Andrea Palladio's Teatro Olimnico. Michigan: UMI Research
Press, 1981.
Parkinson, Richard and Stephen Quirke. Pauyrus. London: British Museum Press,
1995.
Rauschenberg, Robert. Robert Rauschenbere: prints. 1948-1 970; [exhibition,
48
blinneapolis Institute of Arts, August 6 through September 27, 19701.
Minneapolis: The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1970.
Rykwert, Joseph, et al. On the Art of Building in Ten Books. Cambridge, MA: The
MIT Press, 1988.
Slatkin, Wendy. Women Artists in History: From Antiauity to the 20th Century. New
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Storr, Robert. Remains of the Day. Art In America (April 1999, Vo1.4, pp. 104).
Figures
Figure 1.
"Inspiration"
Serigraph 1998
From the 1998 BFA Exhibition "SerigrapI~y"
OWendy Tokaryk
Figure 2.
"Love Poems El"
Serigraph and Etching
@Wendy Tokaryk
1999
Figure 4.
"Framing Myself I"
Mixed Media and collage 2000
From the 2000 RCA Exchange Exhibi
@Wendy Tokaryk
Figure 5.
"Untitled (Ghost)"
Em bossing and graphite rubbing 1999
@WendyTokaryk
Figure 6 .
Windo~vs"
Serigraph
1999
From the Exhibition "New Works"
"
Figure 7.
"Texts"
Etching
1999
From the 1999 Exhibition "Niched"
@Wendy Tokaryk
Figure 8.
"Framing Myself I" detail
Mixed Media and collage 2000
From the 2000 RCA Exchange Exhibi
OWendy Tokaryk
Figures 9 & 10.
Above. Leon Battista Alberti
"Facade - San Andrea - Mantua, Italy"
@Photograph by Wendy Tokaryk 1998
Below. Andrea Palladio
"Teatro Olympico (Interior cavea) - Verona,
Italy"
Figure 11.
"Notexpage 1"
Mixed Media
1999
From the 1999 Exhibition "New Work
@Wendy Tokaryk
Figure 12.
"Notes:Page 2"
Mixed Media
1999
From the 1999 Exhibition "New Worl
OWendy Tokaryk
Mixed Media
1999
From the 1999 Exhibition "Niched"
@WendyTokaryk
Figure 14.
"Remnants II"
Mixed Media
1999
From the 1999 Exhibition "Niched"
@Wendy Tokaryk
Figure 16.
"Imprints"
Collograph
2000
OWendy Tokaryk
Figure 17.
"Diamond Sutra I"
Mixed Media on tar paper 2000
OWendy Tokaryk
Figure 18.
"Diamond Sutra 11"
Mixed Media on tar paper 2000
@Wendy Tokaryk
Figure 19.
"Time Remains I"
Mixed Media on tar paper
@Wendy Tokaryk
Figure 20.
"Fragments I"
Mixed Media on tar paper
@Wendy Tokaryk
Figure 21.
"Fragments I" detail
Mixed Media on tar paper
@Wendy Tokaryk