Endi Poskovic at University of Dallas Matrix

On Friday (09.23.11) we were invited to attend the Fall 2011 reception and demonstration for the University of Dallas Matrix Prints program. The featured artist was Endi Poskovic, a renowned woodblock Printmaker and professor from the University of Michigan.

First, we were given a very special opportunity to go into the preparation studio as the students mixed the colors and inked the blocks for the night’s demonstration. In the Matrix program, the students serve as the printers for an edition of the artist’s artwork, so all of the mixing, inking, and printing of the images is done by the students.

Here are two of the four blocks that will make up this print, inked and ready for the demonstration. You can see some of the colorful inks that make up layers in the print. Most of the colors were selected and modified by the students after consultation with the artist.

This is the last of the three color plates, ready for printing. These plates were hand-carved by the artist using traditional Japanese woodcutting techniques as well as a modern Dremel tool to add tiny holes to the plate. According to the artist, each plate can take from several dozen to several hundred hours to carve.

Now, in the printmaking studio, the master plate is ready for inking. The final of the four plates contains all of the black lines that complete the work, pulling together all of the elements in the print. Japanese-style woodblock prints can be printed by hand or with a printing press. In this case, the students are using a press.

Endi Poskovic is explaining the artistic thought process and background that went into the print. He remarked that he started woodblock printing after graduation. Poskovic’s works are deliberately abstract and unsettling, and he incorporates common cognates of the English language in French and Spanish, which adds to the ambiguous nature of his work. In this particular print, “mon petit ami” is the phrase.

One of the students is chosen each semester as the Master Printer, and he or she gets to choose the visiting artist for that term. Above, the Master Printer is inking the master plate.

This is the first run, meaning the first plate’s impression on the paper. This will serve as the bottom layer on the print.

Second run, now the mix of colors is starting to become apparent. The magic of Poskovic’s prints lie in his artful mixture of pigments. Two colors are layered to form three, due to different levels of transparency of the inks. Fittingly, the paper is Japanese kozo, a very thin and translucent paper that is only produced in Japan.

In this detail photo, you can see exactly how it happens. With the wet plum-colored layer remaining on the paper, the second run adds a light gray color on top. In the places where the inks overlap, the colors mix to form a new silvery purple color. The water, too, has become three colors from only two inks.

The third run brings in the orange sky and blue background. The paper was blotted with newsprint before this run to dry out the first two runs’ colors.

The master plate is now printed, and the image is complete!

The thick black lines add drama and finish the piece. Poskovic’s trademark language fragment appears at the bottom inside the black bar.

Special thanks to the students and faculty of the University of Dallas, and to the members of Matrix for making these events possible! Also, thanks to Endi Poskovic for teaching the students and inviting us all to enter his artistic world for an evening.