Work in progress / EPC edition #22
Seems like a little while since I last updated you on my studio work here, so I thought I’d stop and take a moment to get in touch. I have to say that the winter months have been quite challenging with all the awful news about the war in Ukraine. I think the combination of Covid, Brexit and the looming cost of living crisis have also created some real headwinds for the art world, or at least the part that I inhabit.
There’s an interesting issue surrounding the confidence required to keep at something each day, as studio practice demands. Essentially you need to feel that the challenge of spending time working on the drawings has some value in the big scheme of things, if only at a fairly ephemeral level. Digital abstractions are always going to be pretty niche, of course, so a few live connections and an occasional sale are usually enough to keep me moving forward.
So I’m pleased to be able to say that April is already looking far more promising here. Perhaps as the spring arrives, we all tend to come out of hibernation, and no doubt I would be well advised to remember that simple fact in future years. As ever, part of any practice simply involves holding your nerve and having a little faith in the process.
Having worked through a good number of XGen and Stellify variations in January and February, I thought I’d switch my gaze over to something that is both quite similar and simultaneously quite different. This latest study, working title Torq, features a series of interlocking circles, that create a kind of rotational grid from which specific interlocking forms can be realised, that I hope create some rather lovely relationships with each other, with the smaller details interplaying as they bisect adjacent discs and each other. As ever, much of the joy is in the detail for me. The whole is quite redolent of the Altair design pads I used to enjoy in the Seventies, if you’re old enough to remember them!
I’ve spent quite a few days working up the grid structures and exploring the overlaying forms. As ever there are myriad possibilities to work with, and edit. For the initial studies I wanted to use a spring palette of greens, blues and earthy neutrals, that I hope will make for a good print. I’ll probably work up several further colour palettes, and experiment with some darker and more saturated variations too.
The next stage of the drawing then involves working up a kind of splashy series of movements, almost like those images of droplets hitting the surface of a liquid, creating radiating splashes of colour and movement, that I think will add some real dynamism to the final drawings. We’ll see.
Reading this back, I’m wondering if the whole thing has evolved, albeit subconsciously, from a recent Tangerine Dream gig I went to at Trinity here in Bristol. I haven’t seen them play live before, so it was a real treat to be in a venue, listening to their amazing music.
Apparently, they’ve been playing since 1967, which is extraordinary, and it was fabulous to hear some of their early synths live, there's a density to the sounds generated by analogue synths that is entirely different from modern digital instruments. The connection, in visual terms, comes from the cover of Rubycon, which I bought back in 1983 or 1984, and has stuck with me ever since. It’s on Spotify here if you don’t know it.
Print Club Edition #21 / Spring ‘22
For the next Print Club edition, I have a drawing in mind that I think will make for something quite saturated, quite bold, a real splash of colour. I’ve pencilled in a few days just after Easter to make the prints, so hopefully, they’ll be leaving the studio early in the week commencing April 25th. That’s my current plan anyway! I’ll post some images of the print work when I have something proofed, printed and a little more concrete to share.
The London Original Print Fair
Thursday 26th to Sunday 28th May
I’ll be showing work with TAG Fine Arts at the London Original Print Fair, which is at Somerset House this year, just off the Strand. It’s one of my favourite shows of the year, and always features some really great print work, from both the UK and international makers. If you’d like to visit, do let me know, and I’ll see if I can get your name on the guest list. I can’t make any promises, but I’m happy to ask!
https://londonoriginalprintfair.com/
Avi Gallery, Ontario
I’m really pleased to have signed up with the Avi Gallery, just outside Toronto in Ontario. It’s the first time I’ve been represented by an up and coming gallery on the other side of the Atlantic, so I’m hopeful that it’ll turn out to be a bit of an adventure! I’m already thinking that I may have to visit. I’ll post some pics of works in situ when the first pieces get there, hopefully by May or June.
I’ll leave it there for today, and look forward to posting some new images of the spring edition shortly. In the meantime, I hope you have a good Easter, and enjoy the bank holiday.
More soon...
With best regards,
Chuck Elliott
If you’d like to receive 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.
Four 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 priced at £30 per month inc. UK delivery, or £35 for an international address.
