Willard Boepple: Green Ganesh
Green Ganesh (2020)
Back in February, before the hum of the studio fell temporarily silent over the spring months, we were joined once again by Willard Boepple to work further upon the sculptor’s ongoing explorations into printmaking.
The artist has worked with the studio for a number of years and continues to push the experimental possibilities of the printmaking medium to ‘build with colour’. Pursuing a technique through which solid, geometric forms are constructed with sweeps of transparent inks, the collaborative partnership with the artist has explored a variety of colour, scale and surface.
Green Ganesh - like most of the sculptor’s prints - began with a drawing. Two simple arc shapes, as if formed by a windshield wiper, one sweeping from the top and overlapping another from the bottom, are both laid over a central columnar form. The pivoting arms appear to fold out from the centre. These dynamic elements connect to much of the artist’s inspiration:
“Much as I do with the beginning of a sculpture, I look for a movement, a physical sensation, a rub, a touch, an embrace or a lay of one shape over another. And repeat. In my work it is the relationships of the shapes to one another that lays out the story to be told.”
Once these shapes are exposed onto the screens, the structure of the print is built through a process of empirical laying down of colour upon colour. The translucent inks mix, blend and build up upon the paper, and - on occasion - some areas are hidden or strengthened through selective masking off.
Careful scrutiny is made over the mixing of inks, the many cans stacked to the ceiling of the studio’s ‘Colour Kitchen’ providing an immense choice of options. Testing and swatching of colour palettes enables the work to truly begin rolling with the resulting monoprints and editions produced with Boepple undergoing an indulgence into play and spontaneity.
“At the start I have a base color for the starting point, a color from a bird feather, maybe a necktie, a shirt, scarf or leaf and then we mix up usually two companion or foil colors. These three colors can (and usually do) become many, as they are layered and mix on the paper. As we proceed and the print comes to life the air in the studio crackles and we stop to look at where we are. Kip, Alan and I take a breath, take stock and decide how to proceed, kick it back and forth. Going through the two dozen or so on the go, we decide which to add this color to, which that color to, divide them into stacks and go back on the screen and do the doing, light greens on these, strong yellows on those, maybe a black here and so on. When they sing, we stop and get out of the way.”
Film: ‘Building with Colour: A Monoprint Modus’
We were delighted to be told Green Ganesh was selected for inclusion in The Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of the Arts which made a welcome return this month.
If visiting in person, you can spot Green Ganesh in Gallery VIII, selected this year by David Remfry RA.
Green Ganesh (2020) exhibited at The RA Summer Exhibition 2020 in Gallery VIII.
The limited edition print is available to purchase from the exhibition, in person or online.
Click here to see more details and information on Green Ganesh.
The Summer Exhibition runs 6 October 2020 — 3 January 2021
Entry to the exhibition is on a pre-booked basis. Do check on restrictions before your visit.
