Oisin Byrne b. 1983
Pink-Brown Cut Flowers, 2023
screenprint
102 x 102 cm
40 1/8 x 40 1/8 in
40 1/8 x 40 1/8 in
signed, numbered and dated in red crayon
Currency:
These are oil based screenprints - the colours are physical pigment on the page. Each colour is hand-mixed until we reach a precise intensity: a reflective magenta, a saturated orange,...
These are oil based screenprints - the colours are physical pigment on the page. Each colour is hand-mixed until we reach a precise intensity: a reflective magenta, a saturated orange, a rich red oxide, a subtle gold, an ultramarine blue that is both deep and vibrant (ultramarine produces a pleasurable confusion for the eye: how can a dark colour be so bright?).
Some colours are printed twice or three times on top of each other to achieve full intensity, others are given some transparency so the light of the page reflects through them. Yet others are combinations, with one colour layered on top of another. Even before the image begins, each sheet of these works is printed with a very subtle transparent off-white, softening the ground.
For many days at the studio we amended colours until they hit my eye exactly as I wanted. At times this can seem, even to me, an obsessive and slightly mad task as the colour changes are so subtle. It is a testament to the process that looking back at the first colour proofs, which at the time we were delighted with, the finished pieces out-pop them considerably.
I realise I have always worked best in series, and triangulating the colours of these three works in tandem challenged each to be better. The colour relationships were cycled through not only the individual works - giving each colour its own buzz or hum - but in concert - as I wanted to be able to imagine all three prints as a set, hanging in a row, buzzing off each other." - Oisin Byrne
To create this work, Byrne worked closely with Bob Saich, the only remaining screen-printing studio in the UK that still works in oil based screens. They have produced artist prints for, amongst others, Craigie Aitchison, Michael Craig Martin, Patrick Caulfield. The resulting screen print was proofed and developed with Byrne over many months, and is hand printed with eight gigantic silkscreens. Each print is made up of fourteen separate hand printings: many colours have been printed more than once to produce the vivid colour these works require, in the words of the artist “to sing”.
Some colours are printed twice or three times on top of each other to achieve full intensity, others are given some transparency so the light of the page reflects through them. Yet others are combinations, with one colour layered on top of another. Even before the image begins, each sheet of these works is printed with a very subtle transparent off-white, softening the ground.
For many days at the studio we amended colours until they hit my eye exactly as I wanted. At times this can seem, even to me, an obsessive and slightly mad task as the colour changes are so subtle. It is a testament to the process that looking back at the first colour proofs, which at the time we were delighted with, the finished pieces out-pop them considerably.
I realise I have always worked best in series, and triangulating the colours of these three works in tandem challenged each to be better. The colour relationships were cycled through not only the individual works - giving each colour its own buzz or hum - but in concert - as I wanted to be able to imagine all three prints as a set, hanging in a row, buzzing off each other." - Oisin Byrne
To create this work, Byrne worked closely with Bob Saich, the only remaining screen-printing studio in the UK that still works in oil based screens. They have produced artist prints for, amongst others, Craigie Aitchison, Michael Craig Martin, Patrick Caulfield. The resulting screen print was proofed and developed with Byrne over many months, and is hand printed with eight gigantic silkscreens. Each print is made up of fourteen separate hand printings: many colours have been printed more than once to produce the vivid colour these works require, in the words of the artist “to sing”.
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