This collection of busy prints focuses on locations which I frequented during and before the Coronavirus Pandemic in my city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They depict the contrasting visual and emotional changes that have occurred due to it. Collectively these messy yet lonely landscapes create a personalized and emotional map of my city and its rapid transformation. From a once lively and exciting place to a more isolated, confusing and anxiety-inducing environment.
The left half of the prints below have been illustrated using a roller and pallet knife. The right side was pressed utilizing a wooden spoon for more directed ink distribution.
Saint-Catherine Street W.
Between Guy St. and
Atwater Ave.
Akua ink on 18 X 22 in. Cream Rives BFK
(This wood block is also featured in my series One Pass).
Corner of Atwater Avenue and Sherbrooke Street
Akua ink on 18 x 20 in. white Rives BFK
Outside Guy-Concordia Metro
Akua ink on 18 x 20 in. grey Rives BFK
This project was featured in Concordia Universities’ virtual student exhibition: Sous Pression (2021).
Reflection Diffused: One Pass (2021)
Prints
Akua Ink on 11 X 17 in. Vellum paper
Saint-Catherine Street W.
This project was created by thickly inking a woodblock in an attempt to get as many prints out of one pass of ink as possible. This repetitive process represents the routine of quarantine, the pattern of familiarity many of us have felt stagnant in and the fading of time. This monotony has stretched our emotions thin and for me, the only way to break this cycle was to move. The individual center of the print is doing this, moving, but isn’t necessarily travelling to a new destination. Each print was pressed with a wooden spoon and is unique in both opacity and focus. After printing, they were photographed individually and then layered atop the previous one which collectively equated to over 30 images. This helped to create a short and jarring stop-motion video that encompassed the mixed emotions of the past year. Below are some of those frames/prints in the series and the animation itself.
Animation
All of the prints are sewn together into a short animated loop. An experimental attempt at animating a single block by altering ink distribution when printing.
Forrest Russell 