Printmaking & Sculpture

519 Words3 Pages
Printmaking and sculpture are both tangible and tactile manifestations of the psychological need to interact with social and communal environments. A careful reflection of the printmaking technologies available reveals an array of micro-structures that range from metal plates, blocks, stone, and screens all of which are shaped with positive and negative spaces to transfer and translate media from physical three-dimensional form to a flat surface. Carving, scratching, gouging represent the tangible aspect that is essential and the deformation and shaping of expression. Pressure and concentrated points replace strokes and gliding paint. While printmaking allows for mass diffusion of these physical impressions converted into vast expressions, sculpture allows for a singular morphing of the space that the cultivated stone may inhabit.
The abstract and subtle aspects of drawing and painting are still poignantly embedded within engravings and etchings but unlike pigmentation, printmaking touches different aspects of perception that often cuts through layers of image preference or bias. Monotype is a prime example of printmaking that fuses elements of the two-dimensional methodologies of art. Edgar Degas’s Ballet Master penetrates intrigue and intelligence while drawing upon the ghostlike aberrations that make up the foreground performing artists.
Depth and tonal gradations are hallmarks of the printmaking process. The interplay between light and darkness is projected via business of nonlinear and straight cuts as with mezzotint and aquatint. Prints of Chinese prints to Harper’s magazine illustrations are used in various times and correspond to resources and specific audiences in different periods of history. A form that takes shape through printmaking adds a dimension of permanency and even popularity not found in other forms of art. Sculpture, like printmaking,
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