XGen 2 / six new works on paper

21 Feb

XGen 2 / a set of six new 10 colour pigment prints on Hahnemühle metallic cotton rag

Hello, I hope this finds you well.

I’ve spent the first few weeks of 2022 working on a new set of drawings, exploring and riffing on the energy contained within a simple X form.

XGen 2 / chromatic variations reference the underlying geometry used to generate the drawings, whilst simultaneously experimenting with colour and mark making, to work up the images into something a little more painterly than many of my previous editions have been.

I hope they capture some of the kinetic energy and life contained within the essence of the original forms.

XGen 2 / CV5

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I’ve also been experimenting with a really beautiful new Hahnemühle metallic paper, that I first used on a recent Print Club edition. It has a fabulous pearlescent shimmer that takes me right back to my earliest days of painting and respraying custom metal flake finishes on Italian scooters. I suspect I’ll be using it quite regularly over the coming years.

Find out more about the editions here

XGen 2 / CV1

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As I was working through a number of ideas for sculpting the first model for the series, I realised that there was the possibility of creating some quite lively underpaintings which would be flatter than the more sculptural XGen 3 works.

I’m particularly keen to study the way the colour blocks can be manipulated to create a lot of edge interest. There’s a lot of technique required to make that happen, as you can imagine, the system needs a lot of pushing to really loosen up!

XGen 2 / CV6

XGen 2 / CV3

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I like the idea that the ink seems quite fluid, but also sits on a fairly rigid geometric grid. That combination would be hard to achieve off system I think, and as ever, I really enjoy seeing if I can make the digital speak with a little more soul, and just generally feel more haptic than might otherwise be the case. A lot of the joy, for me, is in the unexpected overlaps and misalignments in the final drawings.

Find out more about the editions here

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If you’d like to know more about the XGen editions, please do click through on the link above, or send me an email. I'll look forward to hearing from you.

With best regards,