Etching as a finding out.
The interest in Etching is an extension of ‘Emerging Forms’, my Drawing exhibition/Residency at Artlink Fort Dunree in Oct Nov 22. I am bringing a slower form of attention from Hard Ground Etching and Collagraphy to bear on the throw away object. As with ‘Emerging Forms’ I began with small and intimate drawings and then developed them as they changed scale to make the human being the smaller object. Similarly I began here with small developmental etchings exploring technique and material and I will work towards a large etching that the human frame might hide in.
Intaglio
I came to etching because of the quality of the line, the ability of the line to resist the hand. The object that I’m focusing on in my next project 2024-26 resists attempts to draw it through both its simplicity and complexity of form and yet it also inspires desire because of the lines it offers within the intrinsic quality of its own form. I am interested in how it will draw itself through the intaglio process.
Collagraphy
In Collagraphy it is the ability to translate articulate statements from crude materials such that the materials themselves learn to sing making this a crucial method for the object itself to speak.
derivatives
I became as interested in the by-products of the etching process as the finished etching. They have a presence akin to relief sculpture and to the Performance Drawings from my main practice. For my current large project 2024-26 these will have as much presence as the final etchings as the process itself is allowed its say.
