T1. Photogravure as a vehicle for creative expression / CLOSED

Just as water, gas and electricity are brought to our homes from far away to meet our needs in return for minimal effort, so we shall come to be fed with sounds and images that appear and disappear in response to the most minimal gesture, such as a mere signal.
Paul Valery

In today’s society of endless reproductions, we are swamped with digital images, displayed on all kinds of devices. Images will no longer be what they always were.

In a strange bid to recapture the authentic, photogravure offers dual rewards as a technique. On the one hand, it opens the gateway to photographic creation, entrusting the most important part of the artistic task to an observant  pair of eyes, while also giving the artist’s hand the mission of revealing the image’s true essence or ‘here and now’.

Contemporary photogravure, an evolved version of primitive techniques developed by Henry Fox Talbot , Nicéphore Niepce and Karel Klíč in the 19th century, has made a lasting impact on 21st century printmaking. In recent years, numerous artists have receptively chosen to incorporate printmaking as the basis of many of their most outstanding works. Modern printmaking’s plastic potential and its invitation to explore, capacity to amaze and broad-ranging possibilities and supports have made it a growingly popular discipline in the world of the plastic arts.

This course aspires to take a new look at certain traditional printmaking concepts through a practical hands-on experience, sparking off crosscutting dialogue with the participants that helps to clarify printmaking’s current role in the global art world.

Objectives
The main aim is for this to be a practical hands-on workshop, taking an experimental approach to two techniques for transferring images to plates: photopolymer gravures and photogravure on copper through the use of a photosensitive emulsion.

The course will pave the way for the participants to work independently on the different techniques, and a printmaking project will be carried out as a means of practising them.

Programme

• A presentation of some examples of outstanding works edited with photogravure.
• Introduction to different image-transfer processes.
• Photogravure using analogue and digital film positives.
• Digital management of images.
• Transferring images to plates and processing them.
• Photosensitive emulsions for plates.
• The importance of the intaglio printing process. Printing resources and techniques.

Requirements
The foundation has some computers with image-editing software, although the participants must bring their own laptop to work with, if they have one.

Juan Lara. Madrid, 1971.
Juan Lara’s interest in printmaking techniques led him to train and collaborate with leading studios in Madrid (Alburquerque 5, Benveniste CP&P) and London (Thumbrint Edition, London Print Studio). He specialized in photogravure and image-transfer techniques and, following the creation of his own studio, in 2009 he founded the printing press Ogami Press, which works with artists as prestigious as Alberto García-Alix, Chema Madoz, Jose María Sicilia, Antonio López, Alberto Corazón and Martín Chirino. Through Ogami Press, he takes part in fairs like Multiplied London, Estampa, Arco Artslibris, Just Mad and Drawing Room. In 2016, he was awarded first prize at Photoespaña’s Festival Off.

As an artist, he was a finalist for the José Hernández Prize (2007), as well as being awarded second prize at the  Valladolid 2nd Biennial (2009), first prize at the Dinatía Vivanco International Printmaking Award (2012), first prize at the 7th Jesús Núñez International Printmaking Competition (2012), second prize at the International Atlante Award (2014), and third prize at the José Caballero de las Rozas Printmaking Competition in Madrid (2014). He was awarded a staff exchange residency grant as part of the MGLC’s Password Printmaking Programme (Ljubljana, Slovenia).

His work has been exhibited at different galleries, fairs and art centres, such as  Galería Ansorena, the Marbella Contemporary Spanish Printmaking Museum, Madrid’s Botanical Gardens, Valladolid’s Pimentel Palace, Estampa Contemporary Art Fair (Madrid), and Multiplied (London).

He has given courses at the Reina Sofía Art Centre, the Real Casa de la Moneda, the Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró in Palma, Bilbao Arte, CIEC in Betanzos, the Fundación Fuendetodos in Zaragoza, and Seville University’s Fine Arts Faculty, among other places. Likewise, he has given talks at the Instituto del Patrimonio Cultural de España, at Complutense University of Madrid’s Fine Arts Faculty, at Seville University’s Fine Arts Faculty and at  Bilbaoarte in Bilbao.

Further information: www.ogamipress.com