| Scott
Sandell
With a resurgence of interest in printing that
began among American artists in the 1960's, it was inevitable
that the next generation of artists would continue to not only
further the case made for technological invention, but reflect
more seriously on the traditional methods practiced in Western
and Eastern cultures. Scott Sandell exemplifies this affinity
with both the past and present and with cross cultural currents.
The handmade papers that Sandell selects are often the sources
for his creative ideas. He seeks out these materials from the
exotic Japanese and Nepal cultures because of both their various
textural effects and ink absorbing qualities. The peculiar irregularities
and unfinished characteristics of such types of papers as Okawara,
Unyru, Marrikko, Suzuki, Chiri, Sechishu, Mulberry and Buhtan
(a kind of paper made from sugar cane in the Nepal mountains)
have a freshness that appeals to the often spontaneous manner
in which Sandell prefers to work.
A Sandell print might pass through as many as thirty-odd steps
before the artist releases it from his Plum Island Studio. Traditional
woodblock, intaglio and lithographic methods are joined with
a more advanced photographic transfer procedure. The surfaces
are enriched by imposed linear or gestural configurations spontaneously
conceived. Consequently, each print in limited editions is unique
unto itself.
Although monumental in scale and striking in color intensity
and contrast; china blue, scarlet, creamy yellow, oranges and
pinks, Sandell's prints are arrestingly intimate and contemplative.
Sandell has courageously pushed the spatial field of printmaking
into the expansive nature of our times.
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