Untitled (Gropius)

Untitled (Gropius)
Abigail Reynolds
22 1/4” x 33 3/4”
Lithograph on BFK Rives Heavyweight paper

Untitled (Gropius) is a limited edition of lithographs produced as a result of several print experimentations made with artist Abigail Reynolds during her 3 month long stay in Los Angeles, CA, in December 2015.

"This lithographic edition plays on the distortion created by simple paper folds.

I often take found photographs and fold them together to create new relationships using the original printed pages. For these lithographs the same image is printed twice, but one print has been made after the paper has been folded, fragmenting it across the first impression. First the whole image is printed in an intense colour - like an after-burn, a memory, a weaker copy. The black image is fractured by the fold - releasing the colour image like the unconscious of the photograph.

I chose the Gropius Chamberlain House (1941) as a subject because this is the first ‘Bauhaus’ style structure Gropius made after emigrating to America. It’s such a pared-down rational building. The photograph I have used is the one Gropius chose to ideally represent his building. He has opened the window for the photographer thereby duplicating the angle of the light falling across the house. My doubling works with this sense of duplication of angles present in the original representation. My folding breaks into the rationality of Gropius's right angles so that something else - something repressed - can break through. Of course I made this work in LA where disruption to architecture is a real possibility through earthquake, something that Europe never considers."

Abigail Reynolds lives in St Just, Cornwall, and has a studio at Porthmeor in St Ives. She studied English Literature at Oxford University before pursuing Fine Art. Her interest in books & libraries prompts her collages and sculpture which are often composed of found photographs spliced to create fresh narratives. In March 2016 she was awarded the BMW Art Journey prize at Art Basel, to travel to lost libraries along the Silk Road. A book documenting this journey is published with Hatje Cantz. She has work in the Government Art Collection, Yale University Art Gallery, New York Public Library and many private collections.

Please contact Gray Area Print for any questions or to schedule a time to view the prints.