some field work: i went to the chester beatty library last weekend as i wanted to see the print works there. this library exhibits beatty’s collection of manuscripts, paintings, prints and artefacts which he collected from ancient chinese, japanese, islamic and christian traditions. my interest was the print works; their forms mainly and display. some things to note – the use of concertina books and scrolls, combining print images and texts, scrolls as a device for an unfolding narrative (towrada toda scroll). also scale – as the work of Chen Zhongsen shows – miniture text inscribed on a tiny stone draws the audience in to engage in active looking.
process: following on from my work on split image printing i started to explore small scale landscape images on small scrolls of paper. again, i might have been better with cutting the transparency before exposure but this way allowed my to split the image vertically and horizontally. the 180 timing worked well as did the colour which seems to echo the tones of the work i saw in the chester beatty now that i think of it.
(process images)
(finished prints)
reflection: i found the scroll format full of surprises as they curled into and away from each other. it might be because i worked kind of randomly – cutting off odd ends of a small paper roll that is a till roll used for receipts (so what is that saying?). i also liked the small scale to draw the eyes in. i think this scale of image really needs to be sharp so it can be read in small unfinished parts. i wonder if there is more scope for a narrative of some kind – maybe some text – or a line or? maybe the image needs to interrupted with something random – macro and micro landscape. it also seems an odd of mixed traditions – eastern scroll format with an irish landscape. the hand holding the images together and apart in the images are also interesting and might lend itself to video work with a spoken narrative. i’m not sure if this is the next step but i want to continue to work on this paper, format and scale until i have a better idea why and what its doing. main thing is i’m starting to see lots of potential form print as part of my landscape, body and gender exploration. next step? keep going with this but split the transparency before exposure, add some some apparently random elements that might suggest a narrative. why? not sure yet – might have to do with the compound eye and multiple gaze?
elaine crowe 