Ocean Etching 1
Description: Copper Plate Etching - Artist's Proof only, No Editions - Copperplate process exposed to erosive quality of the ocean.
Materials: Multiple Plate Etching on 300gsm Hahnemuhle Paper - Unframed
Size: Height 24 cm x Width 25cm
Weight: Approx. 45gm
Shipping: Rolled in Tube via Australia Post for Australia - Handling with Cotton Gloves Only
Availability: In Stock
Ex Tax: $500.00
I expose the etching plates to the ocean, creating an enduring effect of its natural erosive qualities. This process causes a unique natural state for each etching plate. The marks that appear on the plate emulate the movement of particles caught in the surges and turbulent waters.
The role of the environment in my printmaking practice is not to just directly depict elements of environment, but to adapt my practice to collaborate with the natural world. Influential artists, who have played with a similar concept, are Andy Goldsworthy and John Wolseley. For me their works evoke a youthful sense of discovery within nature. It is this sense of discovery within nature that I share with them, also an element I strive to achieve within my work. As much as these artists, the aim of my practice is to incorporate the environment into my work, in the case of my printmaking practice, my connection with the marine environment.
The development of my “ocean etchings” technique began during my BFA (HONS) at the National Art School, Sydney. To reach this concept of collaborating with the marine environment, I experimented with numerous ways of directly exposing my copper etching plates to the ocean. These experiments produced organic, crude, natural mark-marking on these copper plates, with a spontaneity that could never be matched by any human hand.
At low tide, I secure my etching plates to the exposed rock shelf. I wedge them under boulders, within crevasses littered with barnacles, or immerse them in rock pools, lodged under matted masses of kelp. These plates are then left subject to the power of the ocean during the incoming tide for a significant amount of time. This process, in turn causes the unique natural state of each etching plate. The marks that appear on the plate record the erosive qualities of the ocean, and emulate the movement of particles caught in the surges and turbulent water.
Luke Shelley 2014
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