soulful landscapes
In Landscape with others, the two new silkscreen prints by Carin Ellberg, we see a shoreline extending across both prints. The starting point is the beach near Ellberg's summer house in Skåne, where the artist has been wandering ever since she was little. “I've used it a lot in my art. It has come to be an inner landscape that I carry with me. I have processed and reworked it in painting and drawing and made it my own”
The prints are related to a series of watercolors and sculptures made of tights, called Companion, that Carin Ellberg worked on for several years. "I think of the hanging figures as a kind of spirit – as part of a soulful nature," says Ellberg.
The prints have been made together with printmaker Catarina Landberg in her workshop in Aspudden in southern Stockholm. There, the artist and the printmaker have printed layer upon layer of color, to find Ellberg's own shapes and palette, ending at 15 colours. Working with prints, together with a printmaker, was an exciting and different experience for an artist who is used to working alone in her studio, says Carin Ellberg. "I am happy with the prints and feel that now that I know what opportunities the technology offers, I want to do more!"
Carin Ellberg's artwork spans over 30 years. In her world there is nothing solid or hard, everything flows in winding, curving paths of association, always surprising, sometimes confusing. In the book Mother of Pearl about Ellberg's art, the artist describes what she wants to achieve: ”In everyday life we have the tendency to keep walking in our own tracks, but unbelievable things can happen if we stop and take a different path, turn our heads a bit, and look in another direction. I want people to get something like that out of it./…/ To see existence in a new light, get shaken up a bit. And break something.”
From the printing process:
Carin Ellberg starts out with a sketch or idea in mind. For each colour, she paints her motif with black ink on a thin plastic film.
Printmaker Catarina Landberg flipping through the films. These are transferred to screens with a photographic process.
Mixing the exact right shade of colour, finding the visual language of the artist is one of the most important tasks of the printmaker.
Applying the ink to the printing press
Printmaker and artist examining the prints after 5 or 6 colours have been printed. Both motifs are printed on the same paper, of which one is upside down.
Which shade of green turned out the best?
Between each printed colour, the prints have to dry in a special drying rack
After printing 15 colours, both artist and printmaker are happy with the result. The prints are signed and numbered by the artist.
