Artist’s Statement from this exhibit:

In my work, the use of modular imagery goes back as far as 1999, when I began conjoining paintings together.  Within a short time, I was producing what I came to refer to as “sculptural display armatures”.  In this work, I incorporated paintings and drawings on sculptural forms by either integrating the painting with the forms, or by actually painting on the forms themselves.

After a time, chronic illness inhibited my ability to produce these forms and painting became more traditional and smaller in scale.  The work was focused on small objects that I had accumulated over the course of my life.  An admitted “pack rat”, my studio has become a depository for hundreds of objects including: industrial detritus, bits of flora and fauna, toys and anything else that one could imagine.  Some objects have sentimental value, but most have been kept due to either an interest in their respective forms or more recently, the potential symbolism that they might possess.  

As I was painting these forms and hoping that their accumulation would point me in a specific direction, I capriciously came to possess a plastic toy soldier.  Enamored with its form, I immediately painted it.  Doing so had a quick and lasting impact on my work.  Its figurative nature opened the door to a distinct and engaging symbolism.  Its haphazard pairing with another painting pointed me in the direction of contextual symbolism. I have now been working in this general vein for the past 8 years.

I often found painting multiple paneled pieces to be cumbersome and ultimately rejected this form in favor of a more cohesive, streamlined system; one in which all pertinent objects are included within a single picture plane. Doing so made the work much more fluid and in many ways, formally stronger.  However, the thought of producing work in which a group of stock images might be repeated in different combinations, still intrigued me.  The opportunity to resurrect this idea occurred to me two years ago when I applied for a sabbatical leave.   I had noted a curricular need for a printmaking component at Salve and I also felt that printmaking would provide the ideal means by which I could create such imagery. 

The sabbatical itself initially centered on my studying relief prints, most notably by Durer, Dore and Kathe Kollwitz.  I noted the distinct cross-contour techniques of both Durer and Dore.   Study of Kollwitz helped me to understanding the powerful impact that the combination of tenuous white lines and large, black areas could have on a graphic work.  I feel that some of the more successful pieces incorporated Kollwitz’s technique and were done toward the end of my sabbatical.  Namely, the prints of the bear toy, the cow toy and the honey jar put this technique to good use.

Linoleum was chosen as a medium over wood engraving due to its economic feasibility.  Also, this is the material that our students use in the relief printing workshops that we offer.  So I felt some compulsion to develop a sound understanding of its advantages and limitations.  Linoleum also offered the benefit of cutting more easily than wood, with less sharpening of tools being required.  However, I have discovered a couple of disadvantages in its use; as the images do not seem to print as refined as they look before their initial inking.  Also, the thin borders used as a means to formally unify these images began to eventually disintegrate under the intense pressure of the Washington press. 

I had further planned to begin printing 3-piece images.  Unfortunately, they were too large for the press to handle.  I have experimented with hand printing, but ultimately decided that there are better ways to deal with these longer formatted prints. 

All things considered, I am happy with the work and look forward to its continued development.  I imagine that my next body of prints will be run on separate tracks.  I hope to enhance these images by adding color.  There are some hand-colored prints in this exhibit, which could serve as models for such future efforts in this vein.  I have also produced a number of pen and ink drawings that are not modular, but rather incorporate a number of forms in a single scenario.  These images will be included in a show at Hallspace in Boston next month.  I will be interested to see how the relief process will transform them.

It is also important to note how the titles influence the images in this show.  Great care is taken to name each piece, in particular those that incorporate two images.  As I have in the past, I continue to use humor and irony as means to engage viewers.  It is my hope that viewers will take the time to note titles as they peruse the work.

Finally, I feel compelled to mention the small book that I have included in this exhibition.  Seal of Approval: A Toy Story was produced as a response to a call for entries for The Hallspace Drawing Project in Boston this past September.  Participating artists were asked to produce an original book using the unifying template provided by a blank Blurb book.  I decided to utilize all of the pen and ink drawings that I created as studies for the prints in this Graphics Works exhibit.  I used the random order in which these drawings were produced and strung them together by a tenuous story.  I am intrigued by this direction and hope to have the opportunity to eventually produce more work along this line. 

Gerry Perrino

November 2015