The power of print is no better captured than in the Tawharanui Waves limited edition print that won the Specialty Products Category of the Pride In Print Awards. Here is an example of artist and printer working together, in harmony, to produce fine art of a breathtaking quality.
Artist Matt Payne worked with Artrite Screen Printing of Onehunga on site to get the print colours just right, so that he could faithfully recreate his original painting in a limited run of prints on cotton art paper that went for sale in the Matt Payne Galleries.
The artistry and craftsmanship combined with colours being poured on to the screen and blended by hand to get an even gradation from dark to light. In all, 27 colours were mixed under the artist’s direction, with a single screenprint pass for each in turn, until the artist was sure his original acrylic painting was being perfectly reproduced.
Awards manager Sue Archibald said the job, which also won the Screen Process Award, represents a “fantastic use of screenprint and merges craftsmanship with old and new technology”.
“The printer and the artist worked together. Three colours were hand-mixed to create the various shades needed by the artist to represent his original work, and the calibration of these shades was made with the naked eye. The end result was 100 fine art prints.
“Perhaps the best comment about the quality of this work came from one of the expert judges. He said: ‘It is work like this that made me want to join the industry when I was 13’.”
Artrite managing director Glenn Taylor focused attention on his client. “We are not concerned about getting the accolades ourselves – we want the artist to get the accolades, and from that we get our reward,” he said.
“This was Matt’s first effort at achieving a limited edition print through us. We had to convince him we could do it. Once we won him over, it took three weeks to get the job done and he is very happy with the result.”
Artrite has made a niche of working with leading New Zealand artists such as Dick Frizzell and Tony Ogle, who are established on the art scene. “This will be a huge boost to commercially establishing Matt too,” added Taylor.