Impact7, Day 2, Paul Coldwell

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.

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, :

Richard Hamilton, Perspective Scheme1972
Screenprint on Mylar
from the series 'Five Tyres Remoulded' 

Richard Hamilton, Radial Sections1972
Screenprint on Mylar
from the series 'Five Tyres Remoulded' 

Richard Hamilton, Depth of Cut1972
Screenprint on Mylar
from the series 'Five Tyres Remoulded' 

Richard Hamilton, Treads (Area)1972
Screenprint on Mylar
from the series 'Five Tyres Remoulded' 


I also liked the Michael Craig-Martin sets of images,
with line drawings he overlays in different combinations.
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.

Michael Craig-Martin, Seven Deadly Sins: Gluttony, 2008
Screenprint, edition of 30, from set of 7.

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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