6/11/2023 0 Comments Final print uk![]() In Case Studies Coldwell, with deliberate irony perhaps, works from an image that resembles a tourist postcard of mountains – the kind one might send to friends announcing the pleasures of being away from home. The journey from original source material, repeatedly modified and re-formed, to final print, might be read as a metaphor for his imagery, which frequently reflects on the plight of refugees and migrants who are also constantly moving on and adapting to new circumstances. His own works are frequently a combination of both digital and more traditional processes. Paul Coldwell heads a leading research programme at the University of the Arts, London, on the integration of computer technology into fine-art practice. Just as the invention of lithography did not render woodcut and engraving redundant, and photography did not spell the end for traditional graphic media, so digital technologies have not replaced other methods but rather extended choice and capacity. The rise of new media, viewed by some as a threat to the future of printmaking, has simply extended the options available. ![]() At the same time, some artists have continued to explore the untapped potential of more traditional methods, whether it be by printing on surfaces other than paper, by working on an unprecedented scale or simply by working in a way which expands the definitions of 'print'. New technologies have been swiftly co-opted for fine art printmaking, and traditional techniques have been supplanted, modified (and sometimes facilitated) by the photocopier, the fax, and the inkjet printer attached to a PC. Purchased through the Julie and Robert Breckman Print Fund 'Case Studies', etching and blind embossing from a CAD by Paul Coldwell, printed and published by London Print Studio in an edition of 20, UK, 2002. No longer merely secondary, supplementary or reproductive, print is now a central part of many artists' activity, the equal of their output in other media, and conceived as integral or complementary to it. From the cutting-edge experiments of the 1960s printmaking has developed in many new directions, and over the last 20 years prints have become more visible, accessible and affordable than ever before. The boundaries that once defined printmaking began to blur. Printmaking, silk-screening in particular, was also appropriated by artists such as Rauschenberg and Warhol for unique works on canvas, and 'combined' with painting and installation pieces. This development encouraged artists to explore the potential of printmaking and use it to produce works which represented major breakthroughs as creative statements, placing print, arguably for the first time, alongside sculpture and painting as a primary means of expression. ![]() Instead it tended to be a peripheral activity, secondary to painting or sculpture This changed in the 1960s and 70s with the rise of print studios such as Gemini GEL and ULAE in the USA, and Kelpra Studio in the UK. Even so print-making was rarely an artist's main focus. for their restaurants, and the much-loved 'School Prints' in the 1940s and 50s. The 20th century saw the development of a more public role for prints, with the adoption of affordable processes such as linocut, and editioned lithographs made for public display, such as those commissioned by J. Given by Harold Cohenįor much of their history fine art prints have been a private art form, designed for connoisseurs and collectors, published in limited editions and hidden away in portfolios. '0305-03', digital print by AARON, a computer program written by Harold Cohen, 2003. ![]()
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