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Screenprint with de-embossment
David Noonan is known for his work with photographic imagery, frequently combined with abstract imagery, and transformed into collages and large-scale silk-screened tableaux. The figurative imagery is taken from found photographs collected by the artist from a wide range of sources. These images often include dancers, actors and other performers, sometime in the process of applying make-up and often in what seems mid-performance. This sense of concealment, disguise and the adoption of other persona is reinforced through the layering and folding of the actual materials Noonan employs in these works.
“David chose to work with images constructed in layers: a simple yet striking portrait in profile of a young man in the punk style of the late 1970s is superimposed with a stained glass window designed by Glasgow architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh. The image itself lent itself perfectly to screenprinting: the process of layering and superimposition mean that we see both images simultaneously, enhancing the sense that we are looking through the window at the portrait and to a moment frozen in time. As a means of articulating the Mackintosh design, David added a de-embossment that follows the leadlight of the window, creating a subtle physical surface to the print. This innovative process was developed in conjunction with Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen, and we were able to experiment with various methods to ensure David could achieve the best possible result.”
– Michael Waight, 2014
This print formed part of Below Another Sky. The first collaborative programme developed by the Scottish Print Network, a partnership between Dundee Contemporary Arts, Edinburgh Printmakers, Glasgow Print Studio, Highland Print Studio, and Peacock.
10 artists from Scotland and 10 from Commonwealth countries were invited to undertake research residencies during 2013 and 2014. Artists from Scotland travelled to Antigua, Baffin Bay, Bangladesh, Canada, India, New Zealand and Zambia; artists from Australia, Canada, India and Pakistan were on residency in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness.
Each artist worked with one of the five print studios on the development of ambitious and innovative new work in print, taking full advantage of the excellent range of resources, equipment and expertise available through each organisation.
