A study of the application of relief printing to found objects in the urban and natural environment

This research investigates through practice, the potential of the primary hand made print in an age of digitally mechanised imagery, and explores its capacity to express its significance from a twenty-first century perspective. The research commenced with an examination of the hand made print, as well as other printmaking techniques within the context of modernism. Subsequently the research considered the development of the hand made print from that period to the present day, as well as other related image making techniques such as collage. Of particular interest in this latter period was the development of the artists' book and the contribution and attitudes of artists to this medium. Increasingly the scale and form of the artist book became of particular relevance to this research. The research practice was initially concerned with the development of an extensive range of marks, images and imprints. These were the result of the influence of natural phenomena as well as actions by the artist involving hand and machine applications. By exploring these marks, traces and prints, their similarities and differences were identified, as well as their visual potential as primary subject matter. These marks and images etc were collated into a taxonomy which was the basis for further research involving four major projects entitled 'Body, Coat, Car and Place'. Increasingly in these projects, the research focussed on the potential of the primary hand made print to reveal patterns of aesthetic imagery that were intrinsic to the subject. Also of importance was the scale of the prints that were produced and the ways in which they were shown. For instance, 'Body' and 'Car' are of a 1: 1 scale - the print is the actual size of its subject - whereas in 'Place' the narrative is revealed in book form. The latter is of a different scale, where the narrative is not so immediate, but unfolds through the pages of books. What this research demonstrates, is that in this age of digitally mechanised imagery, the primary hand made print has, possibly more than ever, the capacity to convey the aesthetic significance of found objects in the urban and natural environment, and to present them, in a revealing and potent visual form