This morning's session speaker was Paul Coldwell (UK), who spoke on
"Just What Is It that Makes An Artists Folio So Special, So Appealing, So Important?”
There has been a move away from the singular masterpiece in favour of bodies of work.
The artist’s folio is an ideal format for presenting and preserving these ideas,
being both accessible as a multiple and in a format that can remain intact in perpetuity.
His talk considered the folio as a site of inquiry for the investigation of concepts
centered on the propositions of series, sequence and variation.
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| Richard Hamilton, Five Tyres Remoulded, 1972 Collotype, 60x84cm |
My favourite example was the Richard Hamilton ‘tyre’ series,
that work as individual prints and also as a series.
It includes linear drawings, with different treads, embossed prints etc.
which when seen together show both breadth and depth of his investigations.
Hamilton's Five Tyres Remoulded portfolio included a text
reporting its own research and development (as it were)
and discussed his fascination with an illustration from a 1951 issue of
'Technique et Architecture' which showed the development of tyre treads from 1902-50.
This work was part of a series also containing screenprints, embossing, :
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| Richard Hamilton, Perspective Scheme, 1972 Screenprint on Mylar from the series 'Five Tyres Remoulded' |
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| Richard Hamilton, Radial Sections, 1972 Screenprint on Mylar from the series 'Five Tyres Remoulded' |
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| Richard Hamilton, Depth of Cut, 1972 Screenprint on Mylar from the series 'Five Tyres Remoulded' |
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| Richard Hamilton, Treads (Area), 1972 Screenprint on Mylar from the series 'Five Tyres Remoulded' |
I also liked the Michael Craig-Martin sets of images,
Each one is interesting by itself
but seeing them as a series or 'set' of images provides a greater context,
such as 'seven deadly sins' or an alphabet.
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Michael Craig-Martin, Seven Deadly Sins: Gluttony, 2008
Screenprint, edition of 30, from set of 7.
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It challenged me to think about how prints may be read as a series or group
and how that may add to it's value and narrative.
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