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Durham Press is pleased to announce Bubble-Up, a portfolio of nine prints by Emil Lukas. The portfolio consists of two etchings and seven screenprints, each measuring 22 3/4 by 17 inches. The nine prints are presented in a portfolio box and are published in an edition of 35.
In Bubble-Up, Lukas both recreates and re-imagines the unconventional materials and methods - including thread, larvae, bubble wrap, and glass - of his acclaimed paintings and sculptures. The artist organized the prints in a three-by-three grid to give the overall composition of dots, lines, and other marks an upward and dynamic movement.
Within this grid, two screen prints reference Lukas's 'thread paintings,' which he creates by stretching layers of threads across wooden frames. Much like his 'thread paintings,' some prints use thread wrapped across wooden frames to expose screens, while other compositions are created by lying thread onto adhesive plates of glass - a new method of mark-making that Lukas has explored through the printmaking process. Taut, colorful lines crisscross Hum, while vertical strings accumulate into a dense mass in Curtain. Layer upon layer of screens are printed, creating the depth and almost glowing complexity seen in Lukas' thread paintings.
Similarly drawing on the processes Lukas employs in his larger practice, Anatomy transforms his 'larva paintings' into the language of print. The same method was used to create both the painting and the print: Lukas dips live larvae in ink, revealing the organic path they create as they move across the surface. Unlike his larva paintings on paper, the insects are placed on transparent acetate to expose screens for Anatomy. By printing screens of the larvae's marks, as well as several flat washes of transparent ink, the print achieves an opacity and depth like that of their painted counterparts.
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The remaining prints in Bubble-Up allude to Lukas’s distinct painting techniques while also exploring new mark-making possibilities through printmaking processes. Responding to the new processes used to create this portfolio, Glass unexpectedly reinterprets an aspect of Lukas’s larvae work. Instead of exposing glass marked with ink, the screenprint subtly reveals the gentle variations in tone of the glass caused by overlapping his vacant substrate. Through print, Lukas is able to see the many processes he employs in his larger practice in a new light. While his bubble-wrap-cast paintings focus on the convex and concave structure of the material, Detail and Orb highlight the individual textures and crumpled lines within each bubble, revealing subtle variation within the seemingly uniform utilitarian material. As with glass, thread, or larvae, Lukas’s ability to accentuate the particularity of the everyday pervades this portfolio. Though the prints vary in image and technique, Bubble-Up forms a cohesive portfolio linked together by the artist’s hand.
Bubble-Up is sold as a set or individually. For more information, please contact us at sales@durhampress.com.
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Bubble-Up
Emil Lukas | Bubble-Up
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