Printmaking is believed to have originated as early as the 1st century AD during China’s Han Dynasty, and since its start, the medium’s ability to reproduce images and create unique visual qualities has influenced everyone from book publishers to graphic designers. Artists in particular have driven the medium forward by experimenting with its various processes, in which ink is moved from one surface to another. Below, we outline nine of the most widely used printmaking techniques, and how they work.
Woodcuts became one “of the great forces which were to transform mediaeval into modern life,” as George E. Woodberry wrote in his 1883 book History of the Wood Engraving. As the author noted, woodcuts not only revolutionized printmaking processes, but also people’s ability to access literature and art.
To alter the surface of a block of wood, many artists use special knives and other tools, such as gauges, to carve in the direction of the wood’s grain. One feature that sets woodcuts apart from other printmaking techniques is the residual wood grain texture the block leaves behind.
Woodblock printing utilizes a similar process; the main difference between woodblock prints and woodcuts is that the former uses water-based inks, which allow for more sensitive washes of color, and the latter uses oil-based inks. Japanese artists were using woodblocks to create ukiyo-e
prints in the mid-17th century. Ukiyo translates to “floating world” in Japanese, and in these prints, flowers, wrestlers, women, mountains, and other subjects were rendered with flattened planes of color, hovering in the composition.
An exhibition consisting of ten new paperworks by Jayantha Pushpakumara, who completed his education in Visual Arts at the University of Visual and Performing Arts in Colombo will be held at Art Space Sri Lanka.
“I use woodcuts, mixed media and monotype techniques in my practice. The colour palette of brown, black, white and red represent human emotions while the textural surface of the woodcut printmaking create tactile nature to my body of work. My imagery is inspired by the uncertainty of human existence, the distraction caused by globalization and capitalism. These themes are further inspired by the current political climate in our country,” elaborates Pushpakumara.
Uncertainty, by Jayantha Pushpakumara will be free and open to the public from January 24 to January 31 at Art Space Sri Lanka.
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