Printing innovation for artist R James Healy this Summer
Following a successful artist residency in the CFPR labs last year, artist R James Healy has worked alongside CFPR’s senior technician and Master Printer Laura Clarke to design a series of printed works that explore the translation between the handmade and the digital. Combining the use of technology with traditional craftsmanship to create a new series of screen prints to accompany 3D printed sculptural works made during his residency.
Healy’s practice explores perception; encompassing both the act of seeing and the construction of meaning. Drawing on his experience in visual effects his work often features kinetic, sequential and algorithmic elements.
On collaborating with Healy, Laura Clarke comments – “All of the work we do with artists here at CFPR works with pushing the boundaries of what print can be, and I pride myself on helping artists to achieve works that could not have been created in any other way, in any other printshop. We knew we wanted the works to be screen prints – with their solid flat colour and vibrancy, but I was adamant we didn’t go down a digital printing route to create the film positives and loose the soul of the piece. I felt like the images needed to be conceptual in their process as well as their aesthetic, so we explored new avenues for mark making and ended up using code and algorithms manipulate a robot arm to methodically draw out the film positives for the screen prints. This created a really interesting and slightly unnerving quality that allowed us to achieve the aesthetic we we after and to really explore the intersections between the artist and the machine.”
Laura Clarke aims to have the printed series completed this summer with the help of intern James Knight operating the robot arm, and works will be available on our website for sale thereafter.
Please visit CFPR Editions to view more of the wonderful artwork and sculptures we have created in collaboration with artists, or follow us on Instagram. If you are interested in working with us, purchasing artwork or simply want to know more then please get in touch!
