Print Prerogative

‘Bear 47 (with bottle)’ by . Etching and aquatint on paper, 19 x 19 cm, edition of 22, 2023.

A character appeared in the sketchbook of Staffan Gnosspelius: a bear with a cone on his head. At the time, someone very close to him was fighting both depression and alcoholism, and he was struggling to find a way to help them. His frustration came out on the pages of his sketchbook in the form of this bear, which he drew repeatedly. The darker his mood, the darker the place where the bear was. At times there were octopus tentacles dragging him down and thorns obstructing his path. After some time, another figure started to emerge in the drawings: a hare. The hare is trying to help the bear rid himself of the cone. His help is neither wanted nor appreciated, but he sticks with the bear nonetheless. A narrative started to form between these two characters, and Gnosspelius followed their struggle. It took a while for him to realise that the hare was himself.

Printmaking is a crucial part of Gnosspelius' art practice, so it was natural that these drawings became etchings. The lines were etched deeply, then a layer of aquatint was applied, which usually became too dark, resulting in him having to scrape and burnish the image back into life. Gnosspelius has a soft spot for scratches and foul-bite, so for some of the prints he used the back of old plates as a starting point. This way, it was a matter of finding which old scars in the plate could live within the image and which he had to scrape back. Seven years later and the project has developed into a wordless picture book of eighty pages of etchings. There is no text because Gnosspelius wants the images to be open to the reader’s interpretation. The book is called 'bear' and was published by Seven Stories Press in New York in the spring of 2023. Gnosspelius has been living in London since 2002, when he graduated from Edinburgh College of Art.

This print is available on our website. Link in bio.

Details of ‘In the Witch’s House’ by

‘She encircled my head with her fingers and rubbed it, singing something folky under her breath. She smelled more like Mama than a witch - of dishwater and borsch and Lancôme perfume. She massaged her song into my head, hard and fast, now building my hair up into a crown, now letting it fall to my shoulders. "Into the forest they go! Into the forest! Into the forest!" she shrieked.

It felt good, but so what: this witch didn't know what she was doing. She had been wrong in her diagnosis of my pain, which was gone. I was doomed.

She lifted her hands and blew hot breath on my nape.'

-extract from ‘The Witch' a short story from Snow in May by Kseniya Melnik (2014), an inspiration for this work by Alice Lockhart.

‘Birdwatchers, Dungeness’, by . Aquatint,
22 x 32 cms,
Edition of 20.

In Skeaping’s work, we glimpse environments where manmade structures and the natural world meet, often in a surreal juxtaposition. By reinterpreting images from personal photographs, drawings, online content and familiar art works, she captures the uncanny or strange.
Skeaping lives and works in Devon, UK. She graduated from Oxford Brookes University with a BA Joint Hons in Visual Studies and History of Art. She has exhibited nationally in mixed shows since 2016. Highlights include the Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair (2019, 2020, 2022& 2023), Ingram Prize (2023), Wells Contemporary, the Lyn Painters & Stainers Prize, ING Discerning Eye and the Royal West of England Academy Open Exhibition.

This print, along with others by Tania Skeaping, is available now on our website. Find the link in our bio.