Guest Artists for Volume 2 at The Print Shop

One, Irena Czapska and Tom Sowden, 2012
Printed Steel, Inkjet-printed and laser cut paper, laser cut Perspex and neon, P.O.A.

The Print Shop is very happy to welcome the work of Spike Print Studio director Irena Czapska and Tom Sowden, Senior Research Fellow in artists’ books and academic lead for the Centre for Fine Print Research's laser cutting area.

The work ‘One’ comprises of layers of printed work and a neon sign. It is the result of the Diptych Project, in which a selection of UWE MA print artists and Spike print artists where randomly put together to create, in collaboration on the theme of a Diptych.

‘One’ is a cutting edge piece of contemporary print which comprises of layers of Imagery made using a range of methods.

One, Irena Czapska and Tom Sowden, 2012
Printed Steel, Inkjet-printed and laser cut paper, laser cut Perspex and neon, P.O.A.

Irena’s trade mark massive screen print onto steel using ink, varnish and fast rusting iron powder sits as the back layer, a massive ambiguous portrait which appears to have evolved on the surface of the steel proving there is so much more to the art of screen printing, In front of this a neon sign draws the word one across the face. Tom Sowden has his touch in the next layers, which show an institutional glass door, the gridded glass in the image is cut with a laser cutter to reveal the huge ambiguous portrait and electric sign. Finally on a transparent piece of acrylic the laser has been used again to create a layer of invisible text, which flows automatically across the work catching the blue neon and mirroring the portrait, which underpins the whole piece.

The piece is a great example of what happens when the word print is taken beyond tradition, Since the arrival of the laser cutter the boundaries between original print and digital print have been blurred and modern tools like the laser have provided printmaking artists an entirely new ways of working and pushing the boundaries of what constitutes the original print.

We are very happy to have this work in the shop and hope you enjoy its many dimensions.