While trying to visit some of the gardens featured in my West London Gardens series, I decided to pinch a few leaves from each space and experiment them in my prints. I preserved some of the leaves using a glycerine solution (which I managed to spill everywhere!) and others by simply allowing them to dry while under a press. The first thing I wanted to try was incorporating the leaves into the garden prints. It felt appropriate to use actual leaves from the spaces on the prints, arching out of the piece as if to try and escape their imposed cage. I have five prints of Bramham Gardens that incorporated the leaves in this way. Before committing these leaves to the page, I exposed them on my screen in an effort to permanently preserve some sense of them. Arranging the leaves on the exposure unit and the ensuing printing was a fluid process, without any real planning. I threw down a few layers and patterns as felt appropriate and I think they created some interesting prints. I also couldn't resist a few joke prints!
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West London is littered with gorgeous garden spaces, most of which are enclosed behind wrought iron and preserved for those who can afford the astronomical cost of living in the area. I've always felt quite bitter about being locked out of these paradisaical spaces and so I've started a series trying to capture the tension of urban garden spaces and the commodification and gentrification of nature. This is Bramham Square, a lovely space (by the looks of it) with some fairly foreboding iron gates. This is a three layer print with the vibrant background halftones contrasting with the block black cage in the foreground. More to come on these prints, including some work with leaves I "liberated" from the gardens. |
Tadhg CaffreyI'm an Irish printmaker, living in North London and focusing on urban landscape, construction and abstract geometry. My first name sounds like "tiger" without the last bit.
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February 2018
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