Arturo Herrera

 

Venezuelan, 1959

lives and works in Berlin

 

 

CLICK HERE for an artist's statement and price information. (.PDF)

 

>> curatorial text

Known for his collages and prints, Arturo Herrera's edition combines a number of printmaking techniques with 3-dimensional readymades and hand-applied enamel to create a series of extraordinary unique works. 'Bang' explores the effects of combining at times wildlly colourful shapes with various materials: printed paper compares itself with printed linen; matte enamel paint contrasts with the sleek and shiny aluminium form.

 

The object is displayed on a shallow plinth and is housed in a custom-designed plexiglass case. In every work the aluminium ready-made is unique, printed with different images and painted with different colours.

 

Click the thumbnails below to see the different versions of the work.

Arturo Herrera 'Bang' (2015) Impression number 1/15 (back view)   Photo: Gunter Lepkowski

Arturo Herrera 'Bang' (2015) Impression number 1/15 (view from above)   Photo: Gunter Lepkowski

Perhaps the most exciting feature of these works is the unique combination of multiple layers of water transfer prints with enamel paint on the aluminium forms. Herrera worked with the printers to define the variations on each individual form, choosing colours and images that reference the 2-dimensional print which serves as the base of the work. While each form is unique, the lithograph base is consistent over the edition.

 

Click on the images below to see all 15 different works.

Work in progress...

For his editioned work Bang, Arturo Herrera collaborated with the printers at Keystone Editions to experiment with the possibilities for interaction between sculpture and printmaking.

 

 

The colourful composition which serves as the base of the work is a collage composed of various printmaking techniques layered upon different materials. Although printed in a consistent edition, the painterly marks display a direct, spontaneous quality. While the lithographic process generally guarantees the uniformity of an edition, Herrera’s hand-applied printing ink brushstrokes introduce an element of the individual to the piece. The predictability of print is thereby expanded and complemented by a moment of play and spontaneity.

 

 

Centrally-placed upon the print is an aluminium baking pan. Images were ‘printed’ onto the metal form employing a technique new to fine art printmaking and used for the first time in a Keystone Editions project. Known as ‘water transfer printing’, the image is printed onto a clear film which is then transferred onto the object by means of a water bath. By manipulating the movement of the water, the images could be individually distorted and adapted to the aluminium shape.

 

 

The resulting unique prints emphasise the principles of variation and randomness as essential formal considerations. This interplay between control and chance in the creative process is further reflected in the free application of dripped enamel paint, which also establishes a harmonious connection between the various elements in the complete work. The culmination of these ideas and processes is an object, that while providing the surface for print and colour also retains its sculptural quality. The painted and printed baking pan, a mass-produced ‘readymade’, becomes a unique work in itself that carries the signature mark of the artist’s hand.

 

 

Due to a mutually complementary interfusing of the various techniques, the edition Bang is characterised by the appearance of simultaneity, providing multiple readings. The lithographic base is expanded by the concave/convex shape of the metal pan. This juxtaposition encourages an essential tactile dimension and a sense of defined yet open space that can be experienced from different perspectives.

 

 

Text: Ferial Nadja Karrasch

English Translation: Sarah Dudley