projects
March 2023
Studio Life Gravures
William Kentridge
Jillian Ross Print (JRP) is pleased to present a recent body of work, 'Studio Life Gravures', made through an inspiring collaboration among the South African artist William Kentridge, Master Printer Jillian Ross (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) and the David Krut Workshop (Johannesburg, South Africa), together with photogravure expert Steven Dixon at the University of Alberta (Edmonton, Alberta).
Click on the images to learn more about each print.
This body of prints is the culmination of three years of work among three print studios on two continents and highlights the unique skills and techniques practiced by the individuals in each studio.
Because numerous COVID lockdowns around the world made it impossible to travel and work collaboratively in person, Kentridge, in his studio in Johannesburg, suggested to Ross, in her studio in Saskatoon, that they use the age-old technique of photogravure as a method of working together while remaining in isolation.
“Photogravure, most simply put, is the technique used to etch a photograph into a copper plate. The copper plate is then inked and printed to paper.”
A studio walk through at the University of Edmonton's printmaking department with just about every surface being used to in the development of the photogravure plates in their various stages.
Kentridge is acclaimed for his animated drawings, theater and opera productions as well as for his work in drawing, printmaking, sculpture and tapestry in which he uses drawing and erasing, tearing, gestural painting and collage. At the time, he was working on a new film series entitled, Self-Portrait as a Coffee Pot.
This period of isolation allowed Kentridge time for a sustained investigation into the significance of “studio life” in his working process and in the meaning of his work, which is grounded in politics, science, literature and history.
“Filming began in the first lockdown and the studio mimicked the closed spaces of COVID. But the studio is also an enlarged head, a chamber for thoughts and reflections where all the drawings, photos and detritus on the walls become these thoughts.” - William Kentridge
Self-Portrait As A Coffee Pot,
Through this studio investigation, a print series emerged that explored the capabilities of direct gravure and photogravure. Kentridge suggested multiple images from the confines of the studio in the form of film stills, cell phone photos and hi-res photographs and sent them to Ross, his long-time collaborative printer, who together broke them up, layered, and re-configured them into small and large-scale prints.
Ross worked with Dixon and his team in Edmonton to produce the photogravure plates, and with Kentridge and the team at David Krut Workshop in Johannesburg to develop the prints into a finished state to be editioned.
Kentridge Studio
London
February 2022
Published by Jillian Ross Print and David Krut Projects.
Collaborating Printer Jillian Ross
Photogravure by Steven Dixon, Luke Johnson, Alex Thompson (Edmonton, Canada) & Zhane Warren (Cape Town)
Editioning and image development at JRP (Saskatoon, Canada) and DKW (Johannesburg, South Africa)
Editioning printers Jillian Ross, Kim-Lee Loggenberg, Sbongiseni Khulu, Roxy Kaczmarck and Sarah Judge, Bevan de Wet