'Hold me up to the light; you will see poems. Hold me in the dark; you will see light.' Erica Jong

 

New fine print: 'Hand Book'
Calligraphy projected over the hands that wrote it forms an 'illuminated manuscript' full of manual & digital interplay.

This is a kind of self-portrait, my calligraphy being an expressive projection of my self, but here it's also projected back over the hands that wrote it. I used a digital projector to cast specially prepared slides of my calligraphy over my hands in an otherwise dark room.

Purchase information: Click here
CLICK HERE FOR A LARGER IMAGE

 

 

The resulting print combines creative interplay between manual and digital realms. Manual dexterity is clearly written all over this work. But it also features digital projection, photography and editing. Yet HANDS are the original 'digital' carrier, (digit = finger, and digital originally meant pertaining to the fingers). Here I illuminate my ten manual digits with a digital color-wash of the fruit of their labor.

 

 

I display my hands like pages from an open book- literally an illuminated manuscript since the calligraphy is projected light. Most writing is indecipherable, but 'hand book' is clearly written across my palms with 'digital manual' written underneath. If hands might be a book then certainly it would be a digital manual. (Latin; manus = hand; digitalis, from digitus = finger)

  Below: A special edition is available, larger size & printed on hand-painted & hand written heavy watercolor paper

  Click above for a much bigger version that shows more of the hand worked quality.

I am offering this print in two limited editions- one is a 13"x19" limited edition; super high resolution with archival inks & paper; but there is also a larger 16" x 23" 'hand-worked' edition limited to just 80 prints. This special edition is on heavy watercolor paper that I paint with thick white gesso prior to printing. Textured brush-strokes follow the shape of the image and I scratch handwriting into the gesso whilst wet. The standard fine edition is state-of-the-art and will not disappoint; but the hand worked edition is just art without needing qualification regarding state. Its surface is alive with hand-made marks and variations of surface from matt, cold pressed watercolor paper, to bright gloss in painted areas. Hand-worked prints also feature hand torn edges on all sides for a deckle effect. See a comparative list between the two editions below.

Images online cannot adequately show the quality of the hand-worked edition: variable reflectivity between gloss and matt parts based on handmade brushstrokes under the print; subtle impasto relief; and just the 'liveliness' of the surface. The hand-worked edition is for collectors who know & trust my work & what I say about it, and for those who demand the best of the best. The standard fine print is more affordable; it's still a signed & numbered limited edition, and follows best archival workflow of my other limited editions.

 

* Wilhelm Imaging Research rating based on displayed prints framed under glass. This rating does not have  info available for the additional protection of finishing spray coating with Premiere Print Shield, though this adds significant longevity to similar rated media by Wilhelm Imaging Research.

Purchase information: Click here
CLICK HERE FOR AN ENLARGED IMAGE

 

 

'Hold me up to the light; you will see poems. Hold me in the dark; you will see light.' Erica Jong

The polyrhythmic writing detail above favors a musical flow of space over more legible, traditional letterforms. Very fast energetic pen-strokes and compressed off-parallel letter-forms generate a 'shuffle' rhythm that occasionally expands to open asymmetric trapezoidal spaces. It's a dancing rhythm that expands and contracts. The undulating direction of the lines follows an improvised sense of achieving spatial harmony; but also flows upward in sensitivity to the 'uplifting' sentiment of the text. This text, also the illegible layers on the hands, is from the poem 'We Learned' by Erica Jong. The full poem can be read online here.

 

Standard Limited Edition Fine Print: US$ 95
Hand-worked Special Edition: US$ 185
Free shipping worldwide by priority airmail.

for equivalent in other currencies, check the currency calculator at: www.xe.com/ucc/

 

Select the edition you require below

Standard Limited Edition $95.00 Hand-Worked Edition $185.00

If you prefer to pay by personal check, bank draft or cash, that may be possible. Please e-mail me with details of your order and your location, currency and preferred method of payment.

 

©2011 Denis Brown  |  www.quillskill.com