“Field of Work”

Immersing yourself in printmaking techniques changes the way you relate to the space of the sheet: the size and shape of its margins, their clarity and sharpness, and the way the silhouette of the printing matrix transforms the paper. The margins become an important part of the image, letting the viewer in, opening up somewhere beyond it. Left untouched and unspoken in the print, they require considerable work while the matrix is being prepared. They matter; they call for pauses, greater patience and precision. The idea for this installation grew out of this often overlooked, invisible part of shaping the overall silhouette in printmaking. Which part of the work will the viewer notice? How does perception change when looking from within and from outside? How are the empty spaces read, and who or what fills them? The unfinished, “transparent” nature of the work makes it possible to observe its changes in real time, even as the installation itself remains static: to see many separate fragments and bring them together as a whole.