Prints of The Month: November & December 2019
Journeys Without Maps, East & West
Date: 2015
of each
Size (cm - unframed): 67.7 x 90
Technique: Screenprint
Materials: Arches Noir 250gsm
Edition size: 40
Created in 2015, exhibited the same year at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and subsequently shown at the 2017 Venice Biennale, ‘Journeys Without Maps, East & West’ incorporate the technique seen across much of the artist’s printmaking portfolio. A mesmeric pattern overlays the imagery, a distinctive touch seen in all the the work made by Stephen Chambers and The Print Studio. This pair of 4-colour screenprints takes on not just a monochrome application, but also a vignette-like border. The resulting elliptical frame centres our view on the two scenes and adds a strong sense of focus and contrast.
The two groups within the prints not only interact within their own frames, but also appear to look towards and encounter the other, communicating across an indistinct space. Often producing works that are imagined encounters - either from a historical reference or totally fictitious - Chambers here references a narrative from ‘La Wally’, the opera by Alfredo Cantalani. Separated by the winter snow, the lovers break through the alpine landscape to reach other through song.
Journey Without Maps, West
Journey Without Maps, East
Printed on a beautiful velvet black Arches Noir paper, an ‘invented background’ of patterned lace ingeniously weaves its way into the foreground of the prints to subtly bind all elements together. The beautiful detail truly established upon close inspection.
‘A Journey Without Maps, West’, detail. Click the image to see closer.
The prints are held in significant international collections, including the Royal Academy of Arts and The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Beijing, China.
Both prints were made in a limited edition of 40. Prints from the edition are available to purchase.
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Stephen Chambers RA signing the edition in 2015
‘Self Portrait as a Shed’, a similar 2016 print on display during Prints: In Situ (September 2019). Also pictured (right), Trevor Sutton’s Giant Steps (Click Here to read bout our previous Print of The Month)
