About Paean
Paean is my first free standing print edition, a mantel piece if you like. I’ve been meaning to explore the idea of freestanding work for a while, I like the idea of incorporating thoughts about sculpture into the work, and of course making a free standing piece necessitates considering it as a three dimensional object, as opposed to a piece for the wall. There’s a lot more to explore here…
I also wanted to celebrate the advent of Spring in the garden we’ve inherited here. I continue to be interested in the idea of the studio as a physical space, and the specificity of that place. The studio’s output inevitably being coloured by it’s location both in time and space. There’s a lot of thinking to be enjoyed around the ideas of Psychogeography too.
So for Paean I simply stepped into the garden, camera in hand, and took about 600 images one bright morning in May. Inspired by a visit to Giverny in particular, I like the idea of the garden as nourishment for the art, and vice versa. Both of course are artificial constructs that rely on the vagaries of nature to spark them into life.
It’s been great to work with images of my own plants, many grown from cuttings and seed, and then reconfigure the resulting images into a new print. In many ways it’s all quite meta. Images of plants photographically digitised, digitally cut and shut, edited, recomposed, printed out, and then cut and pasted in a more haptic way before being photographed again on my mantel piece.
It’s an unusual piece, perhaps slightly too redolent of a seed catalogue, and I’m not sure what I make of it, but as ever I’m keen to be true to the process and see where it leads me, so with that in mind, process wise at least, I feel it’s been reasonably successful.
Looking back from this distance it’s also amazing to realise that each of these blooms was in flower here on a single day. One of the original motives for the Club has been to produce seasonal pieces that are intended to replace each other in series, in much the same way that a bunch of cut flowers will supercede the previous offering, and in so doing chart a journey through the seasons.
Paean, in the studio & in situ
Print Club blog, May 22nd, 2020
…I’ve become increasingly fascinated by the differences and similarities between time spent in the studio and in the garden. I appreciate that this is to some extent a trope, and has been studied by many artists over the years. Giverny perhaps being the best example. Nevertheless there is something fascinating about the way in which a garden generates form and colour, new views and images, year in, year out, in ways that are always unexpected. Effectively the garden consumes the labour and design you put into it, and then throws up the most deliciously unexpected results from your best laid plans...
…I’m interested to explore the idea that the studio may be able to manifest energy in a similar way, and become an incubator for unexpected results. If materials can be laid out, with rigorous planning, and simultaneously a layer of unexpected chance and serendipity can be actioned, perhaps subconsciously, then some aspects of the work may become less controlled, and more intriguing as a result. It’s something to think about, and hopefully action…
…If you’re interested in gardening and photography, I’d recommend this book, it’s loaded with great images - The Photographer in the Garden…
…We’re all becoming far more familiar with the minutiae of our day to day surroundings, and having spent more time than ever in the garden this Spring, I thought it ultimately irresistible to spend a couple of days photographing both indoors and outdoors, and making some kind of new edition from the resulting images. Something that speaks of May and June, and also of being locked down. I’m going to crop and collage the images I’ve got, and see where it leads. I’m expecting to combine the images with an idea I’ve been thinking about for a long time, but never actioned, which is to make a ‘mantel piece’, a folded print work that will stand up by itself, in some kind of mildly sculptural way. I’ll send images of work in progress as it comes together…
Text from the Print Club blog, May 22nd, 2020
About the Print Club
If you’d like to receive three or four exclusive new editions in the post each year, alongside personal news and views from the studio, and invitations to shows and fairs, please do consider becoming a member of my Experimental Print Club. You can join or leave the club at any time, with absolutely no obligation to stay any longer than you want to.
New works are sent out somewhat sporadically throughout the year, often in line with the changing seasons. Each piece is unique, exclusive, and only available on the day it’s editioned, the size of the edition being determined by the number of members on the day.
I hope the club presents a more personal and intriguing way to connect with the studio, by creating a platform for collecting engaging new works for your home. The club is hosted online here, and I send out fairly regular blog posts and emails about the work too. I’d like to think that it’s an interesting proposition!
Membership is currently priced at £36 per month inc. UK delivery, or £42 for an international address.
Associated works
