Scholarship – 2010:
Printmaking (93309)
Examples of Candidate Work
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OUTSTANDING SCHOLARSHIP
This submission in printmaking admirably demonstrates that a simple and close observation of
subject matter can provide ample opportunity to develop concepts with increasing sophistication
and complexity. The choice of birds as subject is certainly not an unfamiliar one at this level.
However what distinguishes this candidate’s treatment is the ability to conceptualize beyond the
literal. This investigation appears to have come about through an interest in the art historical
notions of ‘vanitas’ and this has been developed through an interest in museology. The ruminations
on the ‘death and life’ of nature through the lens of the museum specimen provide a framework for
various explorations of pictorial space. In this way the ‘bird’ as subject easily becomes a metaphor,
taking on human characteristics in a surrealistic manner for talking about the random interactions
of individuals.
The workbook draws upon analysis of a diverse range of artistic precedent both historical and
contemporary. Celebrating traditional references ranging from William Hogarth, Jean-BaptisteSiméon Chardin to the classical surrealism of Max Ernst, to the contemporary British sculptors,
Jake and Dinos Chapman and the New Zealand painter, Bill Hammond, provides the student with a
scaffold to draw together various threads of research in order to fashion their own personal journey.
A distinctive rationale and aesthetic sensibility has been developed and informs decisions made on
the portfolio panels.
A high level of technical fluency and a sophisticated awareness of compositional devices
appropriate to style and genre has been demonstrated throughout the portfolio. This culminates in
panel 3, where the candidate has produced extremely accomplished multiple plate dry-point prints
that utilize subtle changes in monochromatic colour and various devices of framing that provide
tension around notions of containment and protection.
Overall the most distinctive characteristic of this submission is this candidate’s consummate
capability with a variety of printmaking processes and technologies. They have skillfully
combined silk-screen printing, soft ground etching and dry point etching, solvent transfer printing,
paper embossing and intaglio, without losing any sense of pictorial coherence. In the best
conservative tradition of printmaking, the subtle soft changes in tonal contrasts to the increased
dramatic effects of deep blacks against white are arrayed throughout this submission.
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SCHOLARSHIP
The strength of this submission is demonstrated by a willingness to take risks in the expressive use
of gestural qualities that can be harnessed within print media and processes. The portfolio
establishes its premise at an early stage and demonstrates a systematic investigation of concept and
exploration of pictorial concerns and media use. The first panel explores scale and a variety of
image making. The notion of exploration and challenge to printmaking process is clearly evident in
this panel. Different print surfaces and appropriate drawing ‘into’ and ‘over’ clearly signal later
development within the portfolio. Further printing of different plates over existing prints has been
used with purposeful intent without lapsing into needless repetition. The expressive quality and thus
raw appearance of the work is in keeping with the urgency of communicating the perils of lung
disease.
Panels 2 and 3 further this investigation but become clearer in terms of resolve and purpose.
Where text has been introduced, it reinforces the conceptual intent but in so doing is also considered
in terms of the pictorial concerns. Clear decisions have been made with the prints that communicate
the decay and dissolution of the image – obviously in keeping with stated premise of the concept.
These concerns are deliberate and can be seen through the use of colour, surface/texture, the
layering and bleeding of images. The ‘tarry’ effect of the print surfaces appears to reflect the notion
of residue associated with lung disease and the effects of smoking. The often deliberate ripping and
tearing of the surface of the prints themselves further emphasize this.
The increase of print scale has been clearly accounted for in the studies and written text within the
workbook. Another aspect that establishes the success of this submission is the interplay between a
variety of scales within production. The deliberate use of large areas of mass is counter-balanced by
finer pictorial images, e.g. the understanding of line and mass. This investigation has been
synthesized in later works where figure/ground elements show successful engagement. Panel 3
suggests that the programme undertaken has potential to continue to develop and reinvent.
The workbook reinforces the portfolio investigation and may also operate as an independent entity.
Rather than substantiating only what is shown in the portfolio, it contains a whole additional series
of possibilities. One of the noteworthy characteristics of this Scholarship submission is that the
workbook operates as an independent drawing tool.
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