September 29, 2020

New EL MAC prints: 'Sun and Clouds'

It's already been a year since the last one—finally a new print release this Saturday, October 3rd. Purchase info will be posted that day at http://elmac.net

Print details:

"Sun and Clouds" (gray)
Relief print, hand-pulled, edition of 60
Signed, titled and numbered by the artist.
Four-pull relief print from photopolymer and reduction linocut with split fountain blend roll, on archival French-made Johannot paper, with natural deckled edge along bottom.
Printed by master printer Brent Bond at Santo Press in Phoenix, Arizona, using a 1961 Vandercook printing press.
14 3/4" x 19" paper size
(11 5/8" x 15 1/2" printed area)

"Sun and Clouds II" (blue)
Relief print, hand-pulled, edition of 20
Signed, titled and numbered by the artist.
Two-pull relief print from photopolymer and reduction linocut, on archival German-made Hahnemühle Copperplate paper.
Printed by master printer Brent Bond at Santo Press in Phoenix, Arizona, using a 1961 Vandercook printing press.
14 3/4" x 19" paper size
(11 5/8" x 15 1/2" printed area)

Artist's statement about the work:
This print edition was adapted from a 2019 drawing of my son when he was not quite a year old. The drawing was inspired by his radiance– that special radiance found in small children that glows with love and joy, and can part the clouds in the sky. Leonard Cohen wrote that "as our eyes grow accustomed to sight they armor themselves against wonder"– a fundamental part of being an artist is having and maintaining some sense of wonderment at the world around us. Enchantment with the world helps give us purpose and helps keep that best, childlike, part of us alive. Maintenance of this light and wonder can carry us through dark days and serve as a beacon or spark for others.
This image hopefully carries along, in some small way, a little bit of that light.

“Clearly this music doesn’t sound too much like what’s going on today—war, riots, the stock market getting busted up. And the reason it doesn’t, I realized, is that I’m optimistic. I believe in hope and peace and love. It’s not that I’m blind to what’s going on, but I feel this music is a forward look into what could be a bright future. The philosophy represented in this number, and to a large extent in the album as a whole, is child-like. But not childish. By that I mean there are certain elements of childhood we lose and wish we could have back—purity, spontaneity. When they do return to us, we're at our best. So what I'm telling the world is: 'Speak like a child. Think and feel in terms of hope and the possibilities of making ourselves less impure.' “
-Herbie Hancock, 1968
(Liner notes for “Speak Like a Child”)