Expanses

A sequence of nine monoprints from an "expanded" collagraph plate, which I made through the regeneration of fragments of old prints, embossings and plates, with carborundum and other textural additions. As I continued to develop the ways in which I could harness information from this plate, I saw a sequence steadily grow from the various layers, configurations, and approaches to inking. The use of viscosity techniques to combine colours and highlight intricate details, and the layering of impressions beside or atop one another, enabled me to play with notions of shifting expanses, sprawling land masses, and the continually fluctuating surface of the Earth's crust. To me, there is a parallel between the expanded printmaking practice of this sequence and the resemblance of each print to an expanse of land or matter, as well as a duality between the encrusted composition of the plate itself and the allusions to tectonic plates and geographical phenomena in the resulting prints.