Print Isn't Dead limited edition linoprint (purple/lilac)
Print Isn't Dead limited edition linoprint (purple/lilac)
A limited edition, four colour reduction linocut in purple and lilac with metallic gold. Part of a variable edition of 12, printed in oil based ink on Fabriano Rosaspina 280 gsm weight paper. There are only 5 available in this colour. The gold shimmers in natural and ambient light. I have taken photographs inside during the evening, and outside in the sun to show this. The lettering is printed in a very dark blue though shows up black in the photographs.
A reduction cut linocut is when each colour that is printed is carved away, so it cannot be printed again. A variable editon (or EV edition variable) means that the artist has deliberately changed something during the edition when printing from the same block, and in this case it's the colour.
This print started with the phrase "Print Isn't Dead". Used by People of Print, (a print organisation I'm a member of) it's a rallying cry that's become even more poinant against the rise of AI in Art. The need for hand crafted becomes more pressing in the face of something so faceless and devoid of humanity.
I began thinking of how we are always eager to embrace what we see as progress, often at a great cost-the damage is done before it is too late. We have done this to our natural world, driving many species to extinction and often it has been due to pure greed. So I began to researching extinct and endangered flora and fauna, not expecting to find so many. It was very sobering. I read the back story on each one in this image, and combined them, staged, within the lettering. The final metallic gold alludes to the myth of King Midas and his greed which turned everything to gold, but in turn destroying it all in the process.
The flora and fauna included in this print are clockwise, left to right:
St. Helena Olive, Titan Arum (native to Sumatra, very few are now found in the wild, most are in botanical gardens like Kew Gardens) the Carolina Parakeet, Cry Violet flower, the Cooksonia plant, the Japanese Honshu Wolf, the Jamaican Sunset Moth, the Silphium flower, the Laughing Owl, the Large Copper Butterfly, the Black Mamo bird, the Apple Bumblebee (became extinct in Kent, UK), the Long-Tailed Hopping Mouse, the Dodo, the Franklin tree plant, the Chocolate Cosmos (extinct in the wild), and the Thylacine.
Dimensions: Paper size: approx. 42 cms x 38 cms. Image size: approx.30 cms x 24 cms.
Each print is signed, numbered with EV (edition variable), titled and dated in pencil underneath the image. It will be sent flat, in a secure reinforced cardboard package.
As this is printed by hand, there may be slight variations in colour/tone which is all part of the handprinted process.
Care instructions: Please hang away from strong sunlight.