Prensador Edições, editora independente, especializada em produzir edições únicas e limitadas de colecções de gravura e técnicas de impressão artesanais


A PRENSAR É QUE A GENTE SE ENTENDE 2/10

In loving memory of the pearl diver

It is essential, sometimes, to explain artistic creation, especially when the Asian and Western cultures have been crossed. My passage in Japan, for one year, provoked such a deep influence that, for some reason, it is difficult to get rid of completely, if it is a question to get rid of or if I have to get rid of. In fact, cultural influences are not something that we can get rid of like smells, people, computer problems and anything else you can think. Not only for this reason, but for other millions of reasons, some of them I cannot even explain or consciously understand, I have decided to continue on traveling. I have decided to continue on absorbing other cultures. Also for this reason I have decided to write this little essay in English, to be understandable by a bigger range of people in the world, considering that this language is almost so-called universal. As a Portuguese woman, I have been caring a cultural background which makes me proud of being Portuguese. It is not a question of Nationality feeling, but as a personality which carries inside some special symbolic characteristics such as adventure feelings, risk- taking, explorer curiosity, somehow romantic, somehow dreamer, somehow tragic, somehow sad, somehow exotic and as a consequence, a solitaire traveler.

Through poets and writers I also find inspiration, as well as a written explanation about mental and physical states which sometimes I cannot express it with words, but with visual language, such as lines, colors and graphic visual images, in particular through Printmaking. Although this turns out to be my main way of expressing the above cited matters, the techniques explored (Sculpture, Painting, Photography, Video...) will always depend on the available materials, as well as the real human and economical possibilities to create them.

When I have decided to apply for this challenge project “A prensar é que a gente se entende”, I was inspired, at first, by a passage from Jorge Luís Borges (1998) "I cannot walk through the suburbs in the solitude of the night without thinking that the night pleases us because it suppresses idle details, just has our memory does". Memory, dreams and people that I have met in traveling were and still are my main focus. As soon as I have started to deal with the materials...while totally forgetting the conditions of the paper measures (25x25cm); I have started to print in a compulsive mode, images related with people...and also aspirations that that people were reflecting through themselves. In that images, are included dreams, memories.

After 2 weeks of part-time work in the Grafiikkan Paja (Jyväskylä, Finland), and after 220 passages with the silkscreen squeegee on 55 papers...I realized that the measures were totally wrong, I mean, there were different from the ones that were asked to the project. This is that kind of happening that is really normal when our mind is thinking in so many things at the same time (maybe aging can be also an excuse for misbehaviour?)

After this, I had another idea, an image configured somehow in my mind and suddenly started to research and work on it. Again, almost impossible task to do: An edition of 55 prints, all the same...with 3 different layers of colors (this means 165 prints – mixed media).

For the first layer, linoleum was printed out in Japanese paper. The used motives are representing abstract and stylized image from the ocean and/or clouds, initially created by Japanese artists and later used in Kimonos, as decorative patterns. For the second layer, I have made an etching and aquatint of a Japanese cherry blossom flower detail, named by Japanese Sakura, representing somehow, the coming of the Spring and my passage in Japan...as well as evoking traditional Japanese painting. In the last layer, I used the same technique. In this plate, I have decided to interpret a detail from a Japanese Ukiyo-e, the artistic movement that was represented by Shunga prints (a form of erotic Art), initially made by an important Japanese Printmaker called Hokusai.

It is not my intention to direct the interpretation of this Edition (55 prints titled In the loving memory of the pearl diver) to the following brief historical interpretation of its original print. It also should be noticed that probably, the Edition will be seen mostly without an associated text, which I am also aware of. Although, I consider important to explain what may be behind of it, in behalf of the project: A prensar é que a gente se entende, Prensador Editions (a result of a collaborative project involving 10 international young Printmakers in the beginning of their artistic careers, in the present year 2011), its interpretation should be left open.


Brief history of Shunga

The meaning of Shunga prints is related with the old Japanese way of representing a simple joyful union of the sexes (Rawson, 1968. p. 283), in direct opposition of the 19th century western view and moral stigma attached to these kind of images representing explicit sex. Shunga prints arose already in the 17th century and are referred has a union of science and art, where conjugal compatibility seem to be also related with natural or divination-like forces. They reflected somehow the cultural taste and manners at the time. (Lenehan-White, 2003) During the Edo period, these prints were supported by the middle class, which was open to the recreational aspects of sex and contributed for the spreading of erotic literature and art, making it even fashionable. Among these images, there were represented women associated with sea creatures and that’s where we can find the history of the Tako to ama Hokusai’s print.


Brief history of Tako to ama

These kind of Spring Pictures and Pictures of the Floating World (Lenehan-White, 2003), were related with erotic images. They belong to a three-volume collection first published in 1814, during the Edo Period (1600-1868) and named as Kinoe no Komatsu. The interpretation of this specific print, originally an untitled woodcut, is known as (蛸と海 女) Tako to ama. The meaning of Tako is octopus and ama, a shell diver. However, it has been translated in many different ways such as The dream of the Fisherman’s wife, Girl diver and Octopi, Diver and Two Octop, among other interpretations of the Japanese language.
In the minds of contemporary scholars, the story behind the image is known as the Princess Tamatori tale. It explains the adventure of a modest shell diver who marries with the emperor Fujiwara no Fuhito (Edo Period), who is searching for a pearl that has been stolen by the Dragon God of the Sea Ryūjin in his underwater Palace. The Princess sacrifices her life by diving to the underwater palace, but the Ryūjin’s army of sea creatures, including octopuses, pursued her. It should be noticed that scholars also interpreted this image without connecting it to the text in its original print. In this particular case, one of the multiple layers applied was exactly the explanation of the dialogue between the octopus and the shell diver, expressing their mutual sexual pleasure and that the big octopus says he will bring the girl to Ryūjin's undersea palace, strengthening the connection to the Tamatori legend. While she tries to swim faster and escape, she cuts and opens her own breast, placing the pearl inside, but soon dies after reaching the surface. (Talerico, 2001)


Jyväskylä, 03 of March, 2011. Rita Vargas


References

LENEHAN-WHITE, Anne (2003) Shunga and Ukiyo-e: Spring Pictures and Pictures of the Floating World, Article Retrieved from URL (22-02-2011) http://www.stolaf.edu/people/kucera/YoshidaWebsite/evolution/essay_pages/anne_leneh an_white.htm
RAWSON, Philip (1968) Erotic Art of the East: The Sexual Theme in Oriental Painting and Sculpture. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.
TALERICO, Danielle (2001). “Interpreting Sexual Imagery in Japanese Prints: A Fresh Approach to Hokusai’s Diver and Two Octopi”. In Impressions, The Journal of the Ukiyo-e Society of America, Vol. 23. Pp. 24-42.
BORGES, Jorge Luis (1988): Labyrinths. Selected Stories and Other Writings, W.W.
Norton & Companyin."


Fig.1. In the loving memory of the pearl diver,
A.P. (artist proof) IV/VII, 2011. Finland, Rita Vargas.


Rita Vargas
Visual Artist Ph.D. Student, Art History Department of Art and Culture Studies FIN- University of Jyväskylä

A prensar, é que a gente se entende. Vol.I




Prensador é uma editora independente, especializada
em produzir edições únicas e limitadas de coleções de gravura e técnicas de impressão
artesanais.
A gravura é um processo inteiramente artesanal, desde a confecção da matriz, até ao resultado final da imagem impressa no papel.
A mão do artista está sempre em contato com a Obra, conferindo autenticidade a cada imagem reproduzida, tornando-a única em si, uma Obra original assinada.
 A arte da gravura está na perícia da reprodução da imagem, na fidelidade entre as cópias. Este é um dos fatores que distinguem o artista "gravador".
Divulgar a gravura como técnica artística, dar a conhecer artistas que a utilizam, e acima de tudo, promover o intercâmbio de gravuras entre artistas gravadores, são alguns dos objectivos deste primeiro projeto da editora.
A Coleção “a prensar, é que a gente se entende”, limitada a 55 exemplares, composta por 10 gravuras, de 10 artistas, reúne trabalhos com diferentes técnicas de impressão, das mais tradicionais às mais contemporâneas.
Neste primeiro número da Coleção, podemos encontrar trabalhos de gravadores oriundos de Portugal, Brasil, Espanha, Itália e Estados Unidos da América.
A editora Prensador espera com este projeto fomentar uma maior proximidade entre todos os artistas/gravadores dando a conhecer o trabalho de todos  e de cada um.


Prensador is an independent publisher specialized in
unique and limited editions of engraving and manual
printing techniques collections.
Engraving is an entirely handmade process. The artist hand is always
in contact with the Work, granting authenticity to each
 reproduced image, making it unique, a signed
original work.
The printmaking art is in the expertise of the image reproduction
and in the copies fidelity.
Promote engraving as an artistic technique, unveil artists who use it,
and encourage engraving exchange among artists, are some of the
goals of this first project.
The Collection "a prensar é que a gente se entende" limited to 55 copies,
contains 10 prints of 10 artists, gathering traditional and
contemporary printing techniques.
In this first edition, we can find artists from Portugal, Brazil, Spain, Italy
and the United States.
With this project the publisher Prensador expects to promote greater
closeness between all the artists / engravers.


“Se prensarmos todos juntos prensamos bem melhor!”



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Leopoldo Antunes

Leopoldo Antunes nasceu no dia 26 de Maio de 1988, no Porto, Portugal.
Licenciado em Artes Visuais pela Universidade de Évora. Actualmente, frequenta Mestrado em Design de Comunicação na mesma Universidade.
Prensou pela primeira vez no ano de 2007, no atelier de gravura da Universidade de Évora.

Leopoldo Antunes was born on 26th May 1989, in Oporto, Portugal.
With a degree in Visual Arts, at the University of Évora. Currently attends Master in Communication Design at the same University.
Engraved for the first time in the year of 2007, at the engraving atelier of Évora University.


Propôs-se criar uma composição visual utilizando desenhos de diferentes tipografias, dando dinamismo às palavras e em simultâneo, fazendo com que elas deixem de o ser, passando a formas gráficas compostas por tipos.

His proposal was to create a visual composition using drawings of different typographies in order to create dynamics with words and simultaneously, transforming them into graphic forms composed by types.




“Tipo, um ou dois Hexágonos”
Serigrafia
Silk-screen Print



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Rita Vargas

Rita Vargas nasceu no dia 25 de Setembro de 1981, em Évora, Portugal.
Licenciada em Artes Plásticas pela Universidade de Évora e pela Winchester School of Arts, University of Southampton, no Reino Unido. Frequentou a residência artística Nishiaizu International Art Village, Japão e o Centro de Gravura de Jyväskylä, Filândia.
Prensou pela primeira vez em 2004, na Winchester School of Arts.

Rita Vargas was born on 25th September 1981, in Évora, Portugal.
With a degree in Fine Arts at the University of Évora and the Winchester School of Arts, University of Southampton, United Kingdom. Attended the artistic residence Nishiaizu International Art Village, in Japan and the Engraving Centre Jyväskylä, in Finland.
Engraved for the first time in the year of 2004, at the Winchester School of Arts.


Propôs-se criar uma matriz que traduza, pela sua imagem prensada, a memória de sonhos e de pessoas com quem se encontra em viagens...

Her proposal was to create a plate translating, by its engraved image, the memory of dreams and people who she met in her travels…

I cannot walk through the suburbs in the solitude of the night without thinking that the night pleases us because it suppresses idle details, just has our memory does
Jorge Luis Borges




“In the loving memory of the pearl diver”
Água-forte, Água-tinta e Linogravura s/papel japonês
Etching, Aquatint and Linocut on Japanese paper



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Angelo Rodrigues

Angelo Rodrigues  nasceu no dia 4 de Novembro de 1954,no Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.
Mestre em Economia, Professor Universitário (em nível de pós-graduações) e Escritor de livros técnicos e textos académicos.
Prensou pela primeira vez no ano de 1980, na Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage, no Rio de Janeiro.

Angelo Rodrigues was born on 4th  November 1954, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Master in Economics, University Professor (post-graduate level) and Writer of technical books and academic texts.
Engraved for the first time in the year of 1980, at the School of Visual Arts, in Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro.


Propôs-se dar continuidade à "Série Chuvas",
indo buscar a representação da dinâmica das águas sobre nosso planeta.
O negro sobre o branco, a sua densidade, a sua massa sobre nosso mundo, a sua força incontrolável sobre nossas vidas, a sua poética avassaladora e seu poder de transformar mundos e gentes.

His proposal was to continue the "Série Chuvas" representing the water dynamics on our planet.
The black over the white, its density, its mass over our world, its uncontrollable power on our lives, its overwhelming poetic power to transform worlds and people.




“Chuvas”
Ponta seca em chapa de alumínio
Dry Point 



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Mariana Oliveira

Mariana Oliveira nasceu no dia 8 de Outubro de 1977, em Lisboa, Portugal.
Licenciada em Belas Artes e Museologia pela Universidade de Aberystwyth (Faculdade de Belas Artes), País de Gales, Reino Unido.
Prensou pela primeira vez no ano de 1998, no Chippenham Technical College, Wiltshire, Inglaterra.

Mariana Oliveira was born on 8th October 1977, in Lisbon, Portugal.
With a degree in Fine Arts and Museology, at the Aberystwyth University, Wales, United Kingdom.
Engraved for the first time in the year of 1998, in the Chippenham Technical College, Wiltshire, England.


Propôs-se procurar objectos descartados e/ou prensados industrialmente, que permitam lançar um olhar sobre o materialismo da vida moderna, sobre o consumo e desperdícios portugueses, criando composições através da sua impressão.

Her proposal was to find disposable and/or pressed industrial objects and look at modern life materialism, portuguese consumption and wastefulness, creating compositions through its impression.





“Squashed”
Verniz mole
Soft Ground Etching



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Daniel Figueiredo

Daniel Figueiredo nasceu no dia 12 de Maio de 1986,no Porto, Portugal.
Licenciado em Artes Visuais pela Universidade de Évora e pela Faculdade de Belas Artes da Universidade de Sevilha.
Prensou pela primeira vez no ano de 2006, no atelier de gravura da Universidade de Évora.

Daniel Figueiredo was born on 12th May 1986,  in PortoPortugal.
With a degree in Visual Arts at the University  of Évora and the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Seville.
Engraved for the first time in the year of 2006, at the engraving atelier of Évora University.


Propôs-se criar uma composição onde o orgânico e o geométrico se fundem,  em que o processo matemático das formas preenche a figuração e nos transporta para um mundo com linguagem própria.

His proposal was to create a composition where the organic and the geometric merge, in which the mathematical process of forms fills the figure, carrying us to a world with its own language.





“Há Portas”
Matriz perdida em Linogravura
Linocut



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Fenice

Fenice nasceu no dia 10 de Janeiro de 1981, em As Nogais, Espanha.
Licenciado em Gravura e Técnicas de Impressão pela Escola de Artes Ramón Falcon, no Lugo, com especialização em Xilogravura, Gravura Calcográfica e Litografia, pela Fundação CIEC, de Betanzos na Corunha.
Prensou pela primeira vez no ano de 1998 na cidade do Lugo.

Fenice was born on  10th January 198,  in Nogais, Spain.
With a degree in Engraving and Printing Techniques at the Ramon Falcon School of Arts, in Lugo.
Specialized in Woodcut, Chalcographic Engraving and Lithography, at the CIEC Foundation, Betanzos, in La Coruna.
Engraved for the first time in the year of 1998, in the city of Lugo.


Propôs-se criar a imagem crítica do Homem do mundo moderno, em que este se multiplica em repetidas ocasiões, levando-nos a desviar o pensamento contemporâneo para um saber muito mais profundo e convertê-lo numa anedota doutro tempo.

His proposal was to create a critical image of modern world’s Manin which he multiplies himself repeatedlyleading us to divert the contemporary thought to a much deeper knowledge, converting it into a joke.




“La tormenta”
Litografia
Litography



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Daniela Crespi

Daniela Crespi nasceu no dia 20 de Maio de 1977, em Turim, Itália.
Licenciada em Escultura na "Reale Accademia Albertina delle Belle Arti di Torino", com especialização em Anatomia Artística Humana e Animal. Fundadora da "Contraprova – Atelier de Gravura”, onde actualmente desenvolve o seu trabalho.
Prensou pela primeira vez no ano de 2002, na "Reale Accademia Albertina delle Belle Arti di Torino".

Daniela Crespi was born on 20th May 1977, in Turin, Italy.
With a degree in Sculpture at the “Reale Accademia Albertina delle Belle Arti di Torino”. Specialized in Human and Animal Artistic Anatomy.
Founder of “Contraprova – Atelier de Gravura”, where she currently conducts her work.
Engraved for the first time in the year of 2002, at the "Reale Accademia Albertina delle Belle Arti Di Torino”.


Propôs-se criar a imagem da prensa manual, a primeira que conheceu, constituída por corpos, que se encontram num vórtice, criando a imagem final. O “tudo” é representado entre uma bolha como num sonho. Sonho que a cooperativa onde aprendeu a gravura tinha como mensagem: “uma mútua aprendizagem!"

Her proposal was to create the image of a hand press, the first she met, made up of bodies that meet in a vortex creating the final image.
The "everything" is represented as a bubble of a dream. Dream that the cooperative where she learned to engrave, had as a message: "a mutual learning!"







 

“Mútua aprendizagem”
 Água forte e água tinta
Etching and Aquatint



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Maria José Correia

Maria José Correia nasceu no dia 23 de Abril de 1986, em Leiria, Portugal.
Aluna finalista do Curso de Artes Visuais da Universidade de Évora.
Prensou pela primeira vez no ano de 2010, no atelier de gravura da Universidade de Évora.

Maria José Correia was born on 23rd April 1986, in Leiria, Portugal.
Visual Arts finalist student at the University of Évora.
Engraved for the first time in the year of 2010, at the engraving atelier of Évora University.



Propôs-se criar uma (re)construção, com base no espaço habitacional, onde a gravura nos é apresentada como uma imagem planificada e construída, com o intuito de poder ser reconstruída em novas imagens e novos espaços bi e tri-dimensionais, apelando inevitavelmente ao "olhar na ponta dos dedos" - explorar e habitar novos espaços.

Her proposal was to create a (re)construction based on the dwelling-place. The engraving is presented as an image planned and built, in order to be rebuilt into new images and new spaces two and three-dimensional, appealing inevitably to the "look in the fingertips" - explore and inhabit new spaces.




“Prensar/Habitar”
Técnica mista
Mixed Media



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Clare Caulfield

Clare Caulfield nasceu no dia 25 de Novembro de 1963, em Boston Massachusetts, EUA.
Mestre em Pintura pela Universidade de Brooklyn, onde prensou pela primeira vez no ano de 1991.

Clare Caulfield was born on 25th November 1963, in Boston Massachusetts, USA.
With a Master’s degree in Painting at the Brooklyn College where she engraved for the first time, in the year of 1991.


Propôs-se criar a imagem de construções informais observadas em casas humildes, na Cidade do Rio de Janeiro.
A partir de materiais encontrados, muitas vezes, no lixo ou em descartes de obras, basicamente quadrados, rectângulos e sólidos irregulares de madeira, são construídas residências (moradias absolutamente simples) que se insinuam como imagens construtivistas, embora imunes às exigências teóricas da arte contemporânea.
Buscou captar esses elementos dramáticos da vida dessas pessoas do povo, das suas necessidades imediatas, que modelam imagens inconscientes, construtivas, absolutamente reais no seu mundo de necessidades.

Her proposal was to create the image of informal constructions observed in humble homes in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Residences are built from materials often found in trash or discard works, squares, rectangles and irregular solid wood. They seem to insinuate themselves as constructivist images, although immune to the demands of contemporary art theory.
She sought to capture the dramatic elements of these people's lives, their immediate needs, which shape unconscious and constructive images, quite real in their world of needs.





“Barraca”
Água-tinta e ponta seca
Aquatint and Dry Point



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Antonio Crespo

Antonio Crespo nasceu no dia 16 de Outubro de 1987, em Cadiz, Espanha.
Licenciado em Belas Artes pela Universidade de Sevilha, com especialização em Desenho e Gravura.
Prensou pela primeira vez no ano de 2008, na Faculdade de Belas Artes de Sevilha.

Antonio Crespo was born on 16th October 1987,  in Cadiz, Spain.
With a degree in Fine Arts at the University of Seville. Specialized in Drawing and Printmaking,
Engraved for the first time in the year of 2008, at the Faculty of Fine Arts, in Seville.


Propôs-se representar a imagem mental da bipolaridade, o duplo pensamento, os dois caminhos que partem de uma mesma raiz, criando um contraste entre o equilíbrio e a confusão de pensamentos.

His proposal was to represent the mental picture of bipolarity, the double thought, the two paths that start in the same root, creating a contrast between the balance and confusion of thoughts.




“Bem-vindo”
Água-forte e Verniz mole
Etching and Soft Ground Etching



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prensador.edicoes@gmail.com