If you could freeze your thoughts in a moment, what would you do with them? An idea occurred to me that I could create physical impression of my thoughts, thus gain control of the stream of my consciousness and do with it as I wish. The medium that allowed me to go on with the experiment was printmaking.
I was sitting by a large window at a café (long gone) on Upper East Side, watching the buzzing Lexington Avenue and thinking about nothing (a rare occurrence of my mind). I remember this moment very well, as I was getting ready – holding in my hand an etching needle – to inscribe a copper plate with random thoughts. It was December 12, 2012.
An idea occurred to me that I could create physical impression of my thoughts, thus gain control of the stream of my consciousness and do with it as I wish.
In printmaking, it’s all about the matrix – a piece of material that can hold and carry visual information. The sturdier the material, the more impressions (prints) such matrix can yield. That day in the café I had a square piece of copper with me, covered with an asphalt-like mixture (called hard ground), which can resist acid. After you draw or write (or both) on it, you give it a proper acid bath, remove the ground, and, voila, you’ve got your impression (a print). The beauty of printmaking is that you can keep printing from the one matrix forever (not exactly, as the number of prints depends on the material you use, but from a metal plate, you can certainly get a few hundreds of good impressions).
In printmaking, it’s all about the matrix – a piece of material that can hold and carry visual information. The sturdier the material, the more impressions (prints) such matrix can yield.
The idea of printing the image of my captured thoughts over and over again captivated me. First, I printed a small edition of the single image (using the date I created the matrix as the title, 12-12-12). It features only my dense handwriting (ineligible, as it was printed in reverse), from bottom to top, edge to edge, without any space between lines. Then, I further explored the capacity of the same matrix, using it as a sort of stamp and creating a playful series of compositions of six squares that carry movement from one sheet to another (entitled Squares). I was pleased that one of them was selected for a group exhibition at the prestigious Print Center New York and also showed at the Christie’s.
And I kept printing! The idea of printing until exhaustion is not original. Hungarian artist Dora Maurer, for instance, used the idea to print one plate over and over on a single sheet of paper until the plate’s impression faded out (the term ‘ghost print’ refers to such repeat printing without re-inking the plate).
I just wanted to continue working with the image of my thoughts. A series of collages and small objects followed, constructed from the prints cut out into small rectangles. Most of them were exhibited in my solo shows in 2014 and 2016.
I still have the plate. I could revive those thoughts of December 12, 2012, well preserved on copper, and continue printing. A dear collector of mine, who has long passed, suggested to print it on fabric and make a scarf. Who knows?
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