Two From The Void 2
2007
Drypoint                                            

Christopher Denton        
Residence: Bega, New South Wales, Australia
Birthplace: Birmingham, Warwickshire, United Kingdom

The two works submitted to The Americas Biennial Exhibition are from a series of over 45 prints with the collective title of ‘From the Void’. This is my first real engagement with the genre of Still Life [though previous work shows much in common], and I find it interesting on a number of levels, particularly concerning its long traditions and scope for metaphor. In these works, the manner of rendering, the geometry of the composition, the manipulation of light and shadow, and the presence of the surrounding dark void, are together intended to achieve a mood, or atmosphere, that conveys some qualities of a tangible reality [though not necessarily ‘realism’]. Beneath this [as with all of my work] lies a reverence for the natural order, an abiding interest in number, mathematic, and the philosophy of science as a belief system for our understanding of the world, together with an acknowledgement of its limitations and an acceptance that alternatives exist.

In my printmaking, I have concentrated on drypoint techniques using copperplate for the past ten or so years. I enjoy this technique for a number of reasons, particularly its directness, and hence similarity to the drawing process. My method involves laying down a complex ground of marks using traditional tools such as drypoint needles and roulettes, and less conventional ones such as sandpapers, beds of nails, and a concrete floor. The image is then burnished out and further refined within this underlying ‘controlled chaos’. I find the resulting dynamic and active play of marks in the finished work to have much more depth and interest than the regular ground of an aquatint or mezzotint, for example.

An artist/printmaker born in Birmingham, United Kingdom, in 1950, and moving to Australia in 1979.

2008
‘Footprint’, 1st Biennial International Print Competition & Exhibition, Centerfor Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk, Connecticut [Juror’s Prize]
Ninth International Biennial of Miniature Art, The Cultural Centre, Gornji Milanovac, Serbia

2007
IV International Engraving Biennial of Douro, Engraving Museum of Douro, Alijó, Douro, Portugal [Invitation]
VI Rassegna Internazionale dell’Incisione di Picollo Formato, Museo Civico ‘Ala Ponzone’, Cremona, Italy [Invitation]
VIII Graphic Art Bienniale-Drypoint, The City Gallery, Uzice, Serbia [Invitation]
‘Inky & Scratchy’, Solander Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
‘Nature Mort’, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
XII International Biennale of Small Graphics and Exlibris, Ostrów Wielkopolskiego, Poland [Special Award]

2006
‘from the Void’, Solo Exhibtition, Beaver Galleries, Canberra, Autralia
6th British International Miniature Print Exhibition, Exhibiting at: Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries, Scotland; Aards Arts Centre, Belfast, Northern Ireland; Saint Fergus Gallery, Wick, Scotland; Swanson Gallery, Thurso, Scotland; Bonhoga Gallery, Weisdale Mill, Shetland Isles, Scotland; Ropewalk Gallery, North Lincolnshire, United Kingdom; Beverley Art Gallery, Yorkshire, United Kingdom; & Braintree Museum and Gallery, Essex, United Kingdom [Highly Commended]