The Creative Feel team recently came across some exciting new prints produced by the Artists’ Press. Here, we take a brief look at the stories behind the artworks.
Sam Nhlengethwa’s Kind of Blue
In their first long-distance collaboration, Sam Nhlengethwa asked Mark Attwood of Artists’ Press to mix up a kind of blue ink that would visually reflect Nhlengethwa’s all-time favourite jazz album by Miles Davis’ sextet, Kind of Blue.
As Nhlengethwa says: ‘Jimmy Cobb, the drummer in Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue sextet said of its members, they were respected leaders from their individual jazz groups who were brought together for the first time during the recording of Kind of Blue. It is this high level of expertise and talent that made the very first recording of Kind of Blue “beautiful and smooth sounding…no effort…. no tension…. just relaxed. The band always sounded good. How could it sound bad?” Cobb asked.’
Similarly, these prints are a testament to what happens when one of South Africa’s leading artists teams up with one of its leading master printers. The smooth blue of the backgrounds combines well with the masterly handling of charcoal, gouache, and pencil that Nhlengethwa used to build up the images – a good visual response to the classic sounds. These prints will all be exhibited at Sam Nhlengethwa’s solo exhibition in London from June 2021.
Simon Attwood’s Spotted
Simon Attwood’s linocut Spotted plays on words, cutting into lino to create a spotted genet that he spotted using a camera trap in Eswatini.
In Attwood’s words: ‘In this linocut, I have continued my exploration of infrared camera trap imagery, which translates well into the medium of relief printing. The title Spotted is a play on the physical appearance of a genet’s pelt and the mark-making technique I used to create the piece. For this print, I chose an image of a large spotted genet from Eswatini, that I photographed using a motion-triggered camera trap when I was studying there. This linocut is a small celebration of the wildlife that lives around oneself, unnoticed most of the time. Until I started using camera traps to see what walks around at night, I had no idea of the number of genets and other nocturnal creatures that lurk in the shadows of the spaces we inhabit.’
