"Naked Selfie No. 10"

Here's the last of 4 new woodcuts in this new series. All of the prints from this series can be viewed in this Pinterest album. Read more about the series in this initial blog post. 

"Naked Selfie No. 9"

Here's the third of 4 new woodcuts in that series. All of the prints from this series can be viewed in this Pinterest album. Read more about the series in this initial blog post. 

"Naked Selfie No. 8"

Here's the second of 4 new woodcuts in that series. All of the prints from this series can be viewed in this Pinterest album. Read more about the series in this initial blog post. 

"Naked Selfie No. 7"

It's a New Year! That means back to work - hooray! Now that the holiday season, with all its obligations and distractions is over, I'm throwing myself back into my studio work with serious energy and enthusiasm. 

I've been wanting to get back to the Naked Selfies series that I started in 2017 for a while, and last month I finally found the motivation. Here's the first of 4 new woodcuts in that series.

All of the prints from this series can be viewed in this Pinterest album. Read more about the series in this initial blog post.

And Happy New Year! 

"Naked Selfie No. 5"

This is the fifth of six new prints for a series based on nude selfies I've found while surfing the Web. Read more about the series in this initial post.

"Naked Selfie No. 4"

This is the fourth of six new prints for a series based on nude selfies I've found while surfing the Web. Read more about the series in this initial post.

"Naked Selfie No. 3"

This is the third of six new prints for a series based on nude selfies I've found while surfing the Web. Read more about the series in this initial post.

"Naked Selfie No. 2"

This is the second of six new prints for a series based on nude selfies I've found while surfing the Web. Read more about the series in this initial post.

"Naked Selfie No. 1"

This is a new series of Nude Selfies I've been working on, stemming from the small white line woodcut male nudes I did in 2015. I loved describing the figure through the subtle variations in textures and values, but for a long time wasn't sure where to take it in terms of imagery and ideas.

While surfing Google images without filters I inevitably come across naked selfies of complete strangers. Much is discussed and written about how easy access to digital cameras and Internet has blurred lines between the private and public. What we expect to be only shared in intimate settings is instead casually and indiscriminately disseminated around the globe. The completely ordinary naked bodies of specific individuals are now subject to all manner of comment and objectifying scrutiny. Many might say these people have invited scrutiny and crass comments; after all, they are holding the phone, snapping the image. But does that really get everyone else off the hook for any and all of our responses?

With this series I aim to return some of the dignity to these individuals. I don't know who any of them are in real life. I picked out selfies I found particularly interesting or lovely mainly for their compositional lines and shapes. I eliminated background distractions to emphasize what was always intended to be the subject: the figure. My medium of choice is white line woodcuts because the crisp, white lines combined with soft and airy gradations emphasize the shape and volume of the body. I worked on small blocks - no larger than 4" x 4", because I wanted viewers to have an intimate experience akin to perusing family photographs. Also, working at this small size in this medium renders the faces abstract enough to retain anonymity.

First Proof of "Asleep in the Chair"

Last year I did a series of simple, small eight male nudes in white line woodcut, and this is the first print building off that work. I'd like to eventually have a series of larger nudes where the background is more elaborate and interacting with the figure.

I love the drawing in this print, but the colors in this first proof doesn't work. Sometimes with white line woodcuts I just need to print a couple before I really figure out what colors work.

Even though the image is only 12" x 15" it took over 4 hours just to print once. (My hand is killing me.) So I think I'm going to spent some really contemplating the next set of color choices before I go forward printing a second.

"Sunset"

Four color reduction linocut, 4" x 6" (image). the tired sunsets and the tired people - it takes a lifetime to die and no time at all. -Charles Bukowski

"Superposition"

Four color reduction linocut, 4" x 6" (image).

A rock or stone is not a subject that, of itself, may interest a philosopher to study; but, when he comes to see the necessity of those hard bodies, in the constitution of this earth, or for the permanency of the land on which we dwell, and when he finds that there are means wisely provided for the renovation of this necessary decaying part, as well as that of every other, he then, with pleasure, contemplates this manifestation of design, and thus connects the mineral system of this earth with that by which the heavenly bodies are made to move perpetually in their orbits.

-James Hutton, the Father of Modern Geology

Highlights from [Baren] Exchange #68 (Part 4 of 4)

This the last of four posts highlighting prints from  Baren Forum's #68 Exchange. The theme was "Nudes", and the paper size was 8" x 8". The first post can be found here and the second can be found here. 

Fourth: simple lines 
Featuring Study by Joseph Taylor (above) and  mons Veneris by Andrew Stone  (below.) 

In both of these prints I greatly appreciate the economy with which the artists describe parts of the human figure. Both border on the abstract, and yet convincingly capture the curved, organic contours of human bodies. 

The first describes a man's torso in stark, bold, almost uniform white lines. Black squares counterbalance the figure's weight. In the colophon Taylor describes it almost apologetically as a "quick study," but often it is the work done most swiftly and spontaneously that is also the most free and natural.

The second print describes a woman's pubic hair, labia, and thighs. There is a subtle sensitivity of line that achieves balance without perfect symmetry. Stone offers some noteworthy thoughts about this print and subject on his own blog both here and here. 

Highlights from [Baren] Exchange #68 (Part 1 of 4)

The theme for this exchange from Baren Forum was "Nudes", and the paper size was 8" x 8". I submitted #8 from my series of male nude white line woodcuts from last year. Certain themes and similar approaches to this challenge were employed by the artists who participated in this exchange, four of which I'll highlight in my posts about this exchange.

First: the fetal position 
Featuring Heat by Theresa Martin (above) and NUDE (squared) by Preston Lawing (below.)

These were not the only two prints in this exchange that featured a curled up naked body. But I was particularly struck by the similarities and differences between these two.

Both are reductions in warm hues depicting women, their eyes closed, arms wrapped around themselves, knees pressed close together. And yet, the woman lying on the ground visibly radiates heat outward, while the woman seated on a hard floor appears to contain her warmth. The one above appears relaxed, perhaps merely curled up while sleeping. The other, upright, seems posed or contemplative. One is connected to the space she occupies, the other is detached.

NAKED JULY: "Elizabeth and Rod" by Mike Lyon

 All this July I'm featuring nudes on this blog, mostly because I'm working on some nudes in the studio and I want to look more deeply at how a diverse mix of other woodcut printmakers have tackled the timeless task of depicting the unclothed human figure.

She stands on the pedestal casually combing her hair, not looking at the audience, though she must be aware. She must realize that countless pairs of eyes are following the contours of her youthful curves, admiring her lovely face.

He stands behind her in shadow, confronting onlookers with his gaze, his hands behind his head so as to emphasize his confidence, impressive height, and powerful girth.

Mike Lyon's work is an interesting mix of humanistic subjects, historical references, and unconventional techniques that employ a high degree of math and technology.

Portraits and figures which possess profound emotional impact populate Lyon's portfolio. This woodcut depicts Lyon's long-time friend Rod and Rod's girlfriend Elizabeth. On his blog about it, Lyon writes:

This one parodies 19th century sumo images which occasionally depicted sumo in the company of beautiful women. 

In his blog post 1996 woodcuts Lyon wrote that at that time he became "fascinated by Japanese woodblock printmaking technique." That same year he enrolled in a two-week intensive workshop taught by Hiroke Morinoue. In his post The Fisherman and his Wife Lyon calls the workshop a "life changing experience." Indeed, the heavy influence of Japanese techniques are evident in the work which followed.

Elizabeth and Rod is one of Lyon's many aizuri-e or blue printed pictures, a convention also in accordance with traditional Japanese woodblock prints. Lyon's first attempt at an aizuri-e was in 2002.

What most surprised me about Elizabeth and Rod is that it was created using 24 wood blocks which were carved by a machine. The machine was first obtained and written about on Lyon's 2004 post Max, where he mentions a "new carving 'assistant'!" It turns out to be a CNC (computer numerical control) machine which he purchased from ShopBot Tools, a company which mostly sells them to sign makers.

Previous to obtaining the CNC machine, Lyon used reduction techniques in order to get so many layers of color. However, reduction is a Western, not Japanese, technique, and it seems to me from the post Sarah Reclining that this diversion from Japanese techniques perhaps stood out in a way that felt unsatisfactory for the artist:

This print is a reduction woodcut, carved and printed entirely by hand using traditional Japanese woodblock printing techniques and materials (except, of course, for the reduction part).

Lyon's use of the CNC machine strikes me as a modern incarnation of the old Japanese woodblock printmaking technique. Not only because the machine allows Lyons to use more blocks, but because the great masters of Japanese printmaking typically didn't do their own carving or even their own printing. More often they employed specially-trained craftspeople for each of those specific jobs.

Gazing at this formal-yet-fleshy image of Elizabeth and Rod I imagine that I can hear the far-off buzz of a chainsaw. Maybe it is a sentimental lumberjack carving the image of a mermaid out of a stump. I look at Elizabeth's fair skin and contemplate the fragility of a rose pedal. I blink and am reminded of the fleeting nature of any moment that happens to be captured in a camera's eye-view.