Tag: LinoleumRelief

My final prints for the semester are a series of black-and-white prints and a series in color — the latter of which is made from two blocks while the former is made of only one. The series in color uses varying colors in the background that get darker to represent the damage being done during and after the relationship. Both series follow the same narrative: an individual looking into a mirror at their reflection notices how their reflection is no longer mirroring them; a strange woman has appeared in the mirror’s reflection and is leaving marks on the reflection’s neck, causing a second head to emerge. In the end, a total of three heads merged onto one body are visible in the mirror and coming out of it in the final print.

The series refers to former work that I have done in this class — the merged heads (from the “Conjoined” drypoint etchings) and the woman leaving the marks (from the “Love is (Not) Black & White” relief edition) both make a reappearance. The series was meant to be a depiction of looking on at a relationship that extends beyond traditional standards and boundaries: two individuals exist and love in secret, and the heads’ emergence from beyond the mirror world represents a form of coming out. On the contrary, I also viewed this as looking on at a codependent relationship: as the individual in the real world acknowledges how the unhealthy attachment to their partner has now led to the emergence of unhealthy behaviors — or in this case, multiple heads. Either way one has to ask: is the change, in the end, one for the worse or the better?

The prints created in this project consist of an edition in black and white and a series in color. For the series, one-color flats were printed first and a gradient roll of similar colors were printed afterwards with the image on top of the flat. Using John Alan Lee’s color wheel theory of love, the colors used in the flats and gradients in each print represent four different types of love in Lee’s color wheel  — ludus (playful; game-like love; blue), mania (obsessive love; violet), eros (passionate, physical love; red), and storge (familial/brotherly love; yellow). 

This series of relief prints takes an older project of mine and puts a new spin on it. Originally an idea made in black and white a year ago, the colors used today are used to illustrate the different relationships of the couple embracing each other in the prints — I can not give you one idea as to who these individuals are and what their story is because I interpret them in many different ways. While some may view them as something simple like mother and daughter or a pair of sisters (storge), others may see lovers (eros). They could also be friends with privileges (ludus), or perhaps they are obsessive lovers enjoying physical contact (mania).