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Flipside is a suite of monotypes by Hugh Byrne, who draws on and investigates the visual language he has developed in his painting and sculpture. The prints were co-published with Ebony/Curated and were presented alongside sculptural work in an exhibition at Warren Editions.

In his painting and sculpture practice, Hugh meticulously plans ahead. His controlled working method allows him to achieve his shapes’ clean, crisp edges and the deliberate palette unique to each work.

In the studio, often, the greatest challenge facing the artist is the relative lack of control presented by the printmaking medium. For Hugh’s project, certain things were planned: a series of PVC shapes he garnered from his paintings, prepared in different sizes, and a pre-mixed palette of colours. Also in this jurisdiction was the application of ink onto the shapes by hand, the paper size, and setting the pressure of the press. However, at every point, many variables resist practitioner control: for instance, the stretch of the paper when wet, the transformative effect of the pressure, which produces unpredictable results, and the particular way in which colours will mingle to form new ones.

It is the nature of printmaking that chance plays a more significant role in creating the work than what Hugh is accustomed to in his studio. This required Hugh to adapt his working method – away from planning and toward intuitive response, away from smooth and flat colour and toward adopting texture and embracing translucence.

Hugh has described his practice as “keen observation and questioning…identifying a problem, solving it, letting that decision influence the next problem/solution, and so on. In this way, the artworks become tangible compilations of decisions, organised in one place.”

This process of allowing each decision to be guided by the results of the previous one was amplified and honed in the studio. As Hugh became more comfortable, he spent less time on exact registration and anticipating outcomes and more time using various inking techniques to achieve texture and arranging shapes directly on the press bed. The composed and elegant prints that have resulted from the collaboration are indicative of a loosening in Hugh’s approach—the flipside of his painting and sculpture practice.

What is a Monotype?

A monotype is commonly referred to as the ‘painterly print’. A monotype is solely generated from autonomous marks on a surface – such as PVC or perspex. The monotype contains no ‘re-usable’ elements. In other words, in creating a monotype, the surface onto which an artist paints does not hold any fixed information that can be printed more than once. Unlike the printing surface of an etching, which has been permanently etched and thus can be printed in an edition, the monotype exists as a once-off – a unique print.

The exception is that a ghost print and cognate print can be pulled after the initial impression has been printed. However, as the term ghost implies, this second print pulled is the faint marks left over on the surface.

 

 

Price R11740 (excl. VAT) | Email to Purchase

 

Price R10000 (excl. VAT) | Email to Purchase

 

Price R10000 (excl. VAT) | Email to Purchase

 

Price R10000 (excl. VAT) | Email to Purchase

 

Price R10000 (excl. VAT) | Email to Purchase

 

Framed Price R11900 (excl. VAT) | Frame detail – Kiaat | Email to Purchase

 

Framed Price R11900 (excl. VAT) | Frame detail – Kiaat | Email to Purchase

 

Framed Price R11900 (excl. VAT) | Email to Purchase

 

Framed Price R11900 (excl. VAT) | Email to Purchase