The two main Print processes that I use in my work are Acid Etching and Lino Printing.
For several years I was exploring ways of representing the Cosmos.
Black holes, the birth of the Universe, exploding stars, dark matter, parallel galaxies and string theory.
The alchemy of Aquatint Etching, dissolving the resin coating on the plate and stage biting the zinc or copper plate in nitric Acid enabled me to replicate the drama of energies, time and space in our vast Universe.
I use Lino printing to represent space phenomena in a more graphic way. Sometimes combinations of etchings and Lino gave me complementing qualities, the rich tonal variations of Etching and the thicker ink framing, over layering of Lino. In these combination prints the Lino cut and printed ink, frame apertures in the original Etching, which sometimes reinforces the drama and other times arrests the energies, the image becomes a different take on Universe representation.
The Cosmos and its intrigue are themes that I will continue to explore in my work.
I am now using Lino printing to represent artefacts that look like they have a function but on closer inspection they do not. All the images are based on real functional objects which have been immobilised or amended so they could no longer perform their intended roles.
A major aspect of this body of work has become three dimensional as I have been printing onto ready made objects and re-assigning them to new sculptural roles.
Andi Dakin 