Sean Pearl

I distrust traditional methods of print in almost a religious sense. The process of etching at its dawning may have been a very freeing and rapid method to reproduce graphics, but is now rightfully associated with meticulous medieval regressiveness. An ultimately debilitating time sink of tending an inhuman mechanism. I sometimes think of it as a role-play. Reproductive media through its proliferation can be used to represent a false identity. Not through self portraiture but just continually producing the same images and signifiers. Theres something humorous in using regressive means of making work as its own signifier, I’m unsure what it means though.

I like to view traditional black and white etchings not just as an accumulation of lines, like a drawing as it may seem at first glance, but an ink film facsimile with peaks and valleys. The transferring of ink from the copper plate to the paper merges all marks that have been made when processing the plate into one amalgam. Using monochrome reifies a flow of forms, Symbols attaching to each other like bones to a skeleton. It would be nice for work in this format to approach appearing like folds and creases on a large piece of paper, like relief sculpture. Black and white also negates some enjoyment, Like how you can an iPhone in black and white mode to deter over stimulation.