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| Miniature #28 - February 6 - 12, 2012, 3 x 4 in (4 x 6 in paper), linoleum print |
As promised, a print hot off the new mini-press! Like many people, my relationship with technology plays an important role in my day to day life, and I have a history of needing some time to "befriend" the important machines in my life (for example - my car and computer both have names and, in my opinion, personalities. I also always try to befriend the photocopier at any new place of employment, as in "now, I know your a nice photocopier and are going to want to behave for me, right...?" -various levels of success on that one.) I'm finding that the mini-press falls into this category, and I am still in the "getting to know you" phase (I have not yet selected a name for it). Even though it's early days yet, I can tell that this is the start of spirited "friendship." Mini 28 is a linoleum print. The ink is also something new to me - it's non-toxic and water soluble. I'm still working through states as I make adjustments to the plate, press, and ink, but I was able to pull several proofs (of which mini 28 is one.)
Prints, by the nature of their relationship to mechanical reproduction, bring up questions about commercialization, for me. I feel that art has had a difficult and uneasy relationship to economics since the industrial revolution since some (not all), but some types of art resist the detachment of the producer from his/her product that commercialization implies. On an economic level, artists must invest in their work up front (as supplies and labor) and, in a sense, buy their own time. On the one hand, I wouldn't make a work for saleability (this doesn't make a lot of sense to me since sales are always volatile, and even a commission can fall through after the work has been produced), but on the other hand, I would like to have time to make more artwork. It's something I'm in the process of thinking about, and where it will lead...we'll have to wait and see.
