News / IMMA Opening Frank X Buckley's Speech

Date: 04.02.2010

 

Imma at the Blackbird  Gallery Opening Speech 7pm Jan 29th 2010 

As I studied the beautiful and informative catalogue of the exhibition in preparing these remarks and examined closely the reproductions of the prints admiring them and appreciating the inspiration behind these striking works of Art. I realised that this is a fine body of work, and that it bears witness to the impressive programme of exhibitions shown at IMMA over the last six years. I was also struck by the wide range of media used by the artists in making this collection and I found myself reflecting on the immense effort that they put into producing each one of them.

In a previous role in the sixties and the seventies, as a Jesuit secondary school teacher, I had as we all did, to produce regularly printed notes and examination papers using a carbon stencil and metholated spirits later advancing to the much better system of typed stencils and hand operated photocopier, I struggled to get thirty legible copies for class. Vowed to poverty, practiced in thrift, tied to the departments budget, one did ones own printing- ink seemed to get everywhere and I prayed that I'd have enough to complete the task.
That was the level of my experience of printing when in 1983 I met the charismatic frail and beautiful Mary Fare Powers in the first Graphic Print Studio Gallery in the Powerscourt Town House in Dublin.I knew little or nothing about the making of the delightful prints on show other than that it was not by the photocopying that I had struggled with as a teacher. She explained patiently and enthusiastically the variety and the complexity of the technique of the printmaking and gave me a printed synopsis, which I still have( and which I've had copied for you) and opened up for me a new world of fascination and delight.

From the 16th centrury, Printmaking has been practised by many of Europe's greatest artists- one thinks od Durer, Rembrandt,Rubens- and celebrated in some of the most interesting and stimulating exhibitions which I have seen over the last few years, the one devoted to Monet, Whistler and Turners in London's National Gallery, where they showed graphically and brilliantly the possibilities of printmaking for representation and expression in the hands of masters. The Chester Beatty has presented some memorable exhibitions in that regard- Durer's woodblock prints and etchings, and two marvellous exhibitions in conjunction with the Graphic Studio ,
The Holy Show and The Garden of Earthly Delights.
More recently for some months last year our own National gallery mounted and exhibition of the prints of Edward Munch which illustrated powerfully how he could express the intensity of his feelings even working in black and white.

In viewing these shows one realised that these works were not mass produced reproductions but carefully replicated works of art, painstakingly made by creative geniuses using a variety if means which allowed them to produce subtle and beautifuleffects in multipul editions which made possible wider distribution of their output. From the beginning of printmaking it gave those who could not afford paintings the chance to enjoy the original work of artists in their own homes.It permitteds artists to secure a wider recognition and a more regular income. It also , in time, this is very significant, a new means of expression which appealed to both artists and collectors alike
In Ireland we are extremely fortunate in now having a number of studios devoted to limited editions of fine art prints, The Graphic Studio, The Stoney Road Press, The Blackchurch Print Studios, to name but a few , and near Thomastown in Kilkenny the Reginald Hastings Fine Art Studio, a standard for perfection and commitment which has no place for the second rate and which are constantly exploring new possibilities and which you can see in some of the prints on show here, Barrie Cooke, Camille Souter, Patrick Scott, Hugie O Donoghue, for example

In 2003 IMMA's director Enrique Juancosa began the practice of inviting artists who had been given solo shows at Imma to offer a print edition whose sale would subvent the exhibitions programme. They responded generously and that explains the present exhibition. Besides some other artists who are represented in depth in the permanent collection who were also invited to join. We now have 31 prints in this series and it is an impressive body of contemporary work in many print media.

In it we have a range of printing techniques including the more traditional etchings, aquatint and carborundum as in those of Louis Le Brocquy, William McKeown, Hughie O Donoghue, Elizabeth Payton and Sean Scully, but also the embossed work of Patrick Scott ( where the plate is cut away with laser technology) and the screen prints of Michael Craig Martin, Alex Katz, Gary Hume and the old letter press of McDermott and McGough. There are also the photographic prints in cibachrome and the giclee by Dorthy Cross., Candida Hofer, Janaina Tschape and Jack Pierson.

Unusual examples are the 3D letters laser cut from comocell by Liam Gillick and Philippe Parreno, which can be arranged individually by who ever owns them and Ulla Von Brandenburg's deck of playable Tarot cards( in a presentation box) Also Barry Flanagan and Barrie Cooke here given as prints which include contributions by Seamus Heaney.

I invite you to examin and enjoy the prints for their images and what they depict and represent and for their technique and how they were proiduced.
You will find delight in both.

 

 

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