Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers

I went to the Bankside Gallery yesterday to see the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers. The exhibition has a diverse collection of different types of print-making - all of which have excellent explanations about the processes involved in the exhibition catalogue.

Supermarket Man
(Hector Purchase Prize and UWE Prize)
Gerry Baptist
70 x 70cm
hexachrome digital print
with screen print varnish

In particular, it was very interesting to see that the Society welcomes innovative techniques as well as traditional practices.

Gerry Baptist's Supermarket Man, a satirical comment on our civilization's wastefulness, is a many-layered computer-generated image. A complex collage, its background is a scanned in abstract painting by the artist; the target-like motifs are created with illustrator software; the advertising slogans are snipped from a book dating from the 1930s; the gestural sweeps of pink and orange were first dripped in black on the paper and subsequently transformed digitally into colour, the bin bag was photographed; and the drawing of the figures and the shopping trolley were made with the aid of a graphic pad. Finally a hand-prepared silkscreen deposited a varnish on the line-drawing and the bin bag.
Catalogue

Gerry Baptist's website provides further explanations about his artwork and processes. He was elected an associate member of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers in 2008.

I gather the only form of print-making which the Society frowns upon and which is not eligible for show is the reproduction (ie a giclee digital print created of an original work of art.)

Overall, the work represented is of excellent quality and you have until 1st June to visit to see for yourself. During exhibitions, the Bankside Gallery is open daily from 11am until 6pm.


Featured Artist - David Gluck RWS RE (1939-2007)

The featured artist is David Gluck RWS RE who sadly died just over a year ago died shortly after winning the 2006 Singer Friedlander/Sunday Times watercolour competition (see today's other post RWS/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition - call for entries for details of this year's competition).

His large etchings and aquatints of evening scenes in Venice are absolutely superb. There are three on show with unframed prices between £350 and £550.

Late Evening Gondolas, Venice
David Gluck RE, RWS
etching and aquatint

A Yorkshire man, he studied at Wakefield College of Art and Leeds College of Art before taking a postgraduate diploma in printmaking in 1962 at the Royal College of Art. In 1974, he was appointed Head of Printmaking at Central St Martin's College of Art and Design - becoming Director of Studies of the Fine Arts Course. For eight years, from 1985 to 1993, he was also a member of the Printmaking Panel of the British School of Rome. He was also a member of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, the London Group, the New English Art Club, and the Society of Landscape Painters. (For further information see links at the end of this post)

Over many years I have found that etching, monoprint and watercolour give me the necessary flexibility and stimulation I require to resolve images that evolve through the open-ended use of the process .
David Gluck - London Group

Prizewinners

I'm going to include the prizewinners - but it'll take a me a little time to track down websites - so that will be an update to this post. [Update - now completed - Links are to websites or galleries which reference the artist. Note the very distinct gender difference in who has their own website!]

The prizewinner whose work absolutely stood out for me was Harry Brockway's The Pearl Necklace which won the Wood Engraver's Prize and the Aberstywyth University School of Art Collection Purchase Prize. This is simply stunning to look - the wood carving technique is exquisite!

The Pearl Necklace
Harry Brockway ARE
wood engraving

Harry Brockway is one of a growing number of younger artists making wood engravings. Originally trained as a sculptor, he was taught wood engraving at the Royal Academy Schools by Sarah van Niekerk. He is also a stonemason and now lives in Glastonbury.
The Gregynog Press

The prizewinners are listed below.

• Aberystwyth University School of Art Collection Purchase Prize
• Roy Willingham ARE Post Print 1 and Post Print 3
• Karen Keogh ARE Cinnamon Island
• Harry Brockway ARE The Pearl Necklace
• Angie Lewin ARE Alliums and Fennel
• Print Quarterly Prize
• Sally McLaren RE Ocean Series - Untitled
• Ashmolean Museum, Oxford - Vivien leigh Purchase prize
• Siabhra O'Brien ARE
• Society of Wood Engraver's Prize
• Harry Brockway ARE The Pearl Necklace
• Ian Stephens ARE Boundary Lane
• The Hector Purchase Prize
• Gerry Baptist ARE Supermarket Man
  
• Paintings in Hospitals Purchase Prize
• Julia Manning ARE Prunella's Party
• Gail Brodholt ARE Nightowls on the Northern Line and Westbound on the Piccadilly Line
• Centre for Fine Art Print Research, UEW Prize
• Gerry Baptist ARE
• Curwen Studio Prize
• Kate Dicker ARE
  

Events

The RE have a number of events running during the course of the exhibition. The remaining ones are:

• Linocut by Angie Lewin ARE and Gail Brodholt ARE, Saturday 24th May 2008 - 1pm - 4pm
• Woodcut print demo by Nana Shiomi RE, Sunday 1st June 2008 - 1pm - 4pm. Nan Shimoi produces contemporary Japanese woodcut prints and talks on her website about and after ukiyo-e.
  

I use both very traditional Japanese methods of printing, similar to those used by ukiyo-e printers, and also very modern techniques, materials and tools.
Nana Shiomi - talking about technique

As always Frank Kiely RE (see Frank Kiely - an Irish artist in London), who works part-time at the Gallery was extremely helpful and informative about the various painter-printmakers and I enjoyed seeing his new works - one of which includes a view of The Globe Theatre (click for a larger image)

The Globe - crop
Frank Kiely
screenprint

Purchases

It is now possible to buy original prints by Members of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers online. Click here to view prints available for sale. Unfortunately, this commerce facility doesn't include David Gluck's etchings of Venice which are stunning. For those you need to go to the Bankside Gallery and view and buy!

Links:

• Obituaries of David Gluck in the Guardian, Independent and the Times
• Bankside Gallery - home of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers