art in tavira

FISH & PRINT



Impressive exhibition in Junta de Freguesia de Olhão opened last Sunday

English born Rachel Ramirez (43) – in Portugal since the summer of 2005 – lives in Olhão and now shows some of her work in the Galeria in 34 Rua da Feira. Her motives are very maritime, and she uses dead sea life to create some very interesting art.

- Japanese culture is re-known for sushi and very special high quality ink brushes. But to use fish as printing plates may be unknown to some readers. What secrets do you want to give away about how you create your art?

- There are no secrets about how I make my pictures. Gyotaku is a printing technique

which has its origins in Japan in the 1800's. I use waterbased pigments, Japanese sumi inks and acrylics applied directly onto the specimen (for example fish, octopus, crabs, etc) then very carefully place Japanese kozo paper on top and gently press with finger tips to make a print. When I make enough good prints I allow them to dry cut them out and generally glue them with acid free glue on to canvas or paper, sometimes with gold, silver or copper leaf. I paint in the fish eyes by hand. So each picture is unique, even when printing from the same specimen the results vary slightly so I can not make editions of prints that is why I like to put them on canvas because they have the status of a painting, plus I use painting techniques for the backgrounds. Traditionally gyotaku prints are made on paper so this is my 'western' version. There are two methods direct and indirect. I use the direct method.

 

Gyotaku is widely known in Japan and has spread throughout the world. Ramirez is a member of the Nature Printing Society www.natureprintingsociety/info, founded in 1976 as an international organisation devoted to nature and the art of nature printing, for artistic and educational purposes, to advance and encourage nature printing, which includes gyotaku.

 

- Now you also show some of your control of digital printing techniques. Can you say something about the links between very old and very new tools of creative and artistic expressions?

- I have always worked in printing both in fine art and the commercial sector. I graduated in 1994 with a Masters degree in fine art from the Royal College of Art in London. Printmaking to me is about the use of certain techniques and processes which enable the artist to realise their vision. The traditional and modern digital technologies and processes can exist side by side and be used together. I like to photograph the specimens before I print them, using a digital camera and save these images for reference. Very occasionally I may use a photograph and make a digital print onto waterslide transfer paper, then tranfer the image onto a painted background or metal leaf panel to produce a finished piece of work. The end result of printing is not always a limited edition print on paper which is what many people think of when they think of artists making prints. Print techniques can be used to create sculptures, artists books, installations, infact anything imaginable and any surface can be printed onto with the correct process. So for me it’s an exciting medium which offers endless possibilities. Recently, digital print technologies have been developed to print bone replacements for people having surgery. New digital technologies and their applications will be utilised by artists as tools in the same way as a painter uses a brush. Also, new print technologies often offer more environment friendly and healthier solutions to creating works of art. 

 

- There have been some discussions over the last few years of using dead bodies in the creation of art. Some critics say it's an ethic problem. Any comments?

- For me yes there are ethical concerns with the use of dead bodies for the creation of art. In particular the fact that the person should donate their body to an artist for a specific piece of work, in the same way one can request to leave your body to medical research, donor transplants and forensic science. Bodies should not be used by artists if the people have not consented. In my case the fish or other specimens I use are purchased at Olhão fish market or donated to me by people who go fishing. Often caught by 'artesano' fisherman and not by dredger trawling, so the environment is protected. Also, fish from fish farms, which are very well run in Portugal. I often wash the specimens cook and eat them at the end of a days printing or with bigger specimens freeze them to use again and when they are no longer any good for printing I make plaster casts of them which I fill with recycled paper pulp from my reject prints and make sculptures. So I hope that I take a little from the natural environment (of course the fish etc don't give their consent) but I use them to the utmost and don't waste anything. I would not consider printing extremely rare species unless these were already preserved for scientific purposes or had died of natural causes. I have also experimented with drying the fish skins and preserving the bones once the plaster casts have been made, so really nothing goes to waste. The plaster from old moulds is broken up and dug into my friends garden to improve the soil.

- By showing people my works I hope they appreciate the beauty and wonder in nature and preserve this for future generations, says Rachel Ramirez.

 

The exhibition will be shown till May 10. Prices vary from 45 – 850 euros.

 

 

Ola Lars Andresen