Edward Twohig | Kaleidoscope | 3 - 21 August 2022

'This body of work began in mid-May 2021 with the sudden passing of my mother, Lilian (Nora Elizabeth) Twohig. In a sense, this work is my tribute to an individual who was such a kind, wise and important part of mine, my sisters, brothers, nephews and nieces and father’s existence. I like to think my Mum’s spirit is imbued within and across this work. I have employed my practice to channel and work through my grief at the loss of my Mum and in doing so, celebrate. Lilian delighted in colour, yellows and blues particularly. My practice has become freer: more lateral, more daring, more adventurous. Monochrome and colour printing are very, very different worlds. Technically, multi-level viscosity printing is like walking a seemingly unforgiving tight-rope that involves learning insights into the tangible properties within inks. Each have independent or different characters, like the keys of piano and are increasingly different in diffusivity and porosity when merging blends and melding combinations diluted with poppy oil and turpentine. One slip in the process, even the slightest increase in the pressure of the hand-spin print-roller and all is lost. All or nothing in flux. Immersive. Papers, too, are pushed to extremes in a way unheard of with monochrome intaglio printmaking. The stakes are sky-high. So too are the pitches of success. The gasp of delight when lifting the embossed paper, made flesh, from the bed of the etching press can be a priceless moment. This has been my modus operandi within the printmaking studio since October 2021.'

'The exhibition 'Relentless Rhythm’ at Eames Fine Art in collaboration with the Hoyland Estate, last autumn, celebrated John Hoyland’s fearless passion in creating original prints and overprinted compositions throughout the 1980’s and 90’s. Whilst a postgraduate printmaking student at Chelsea College of Art in the early 1990’s, I supplemented my income by proofing and editioning for John Hoyland, Elizabeth Frink and Eduardo Paolozzi. Each, across their career, taught at Chelsea. Visually, John Hoyland’s fearless adventures in intaglio I lovingly embrace. The vitality from his prints are electric and his example a perpetual influence - spiritually as well as visually - together with William Morris’ vernacular patterns. Another channel was ‘Nolan à l’Atelier 17’ at the Sidney Nolan Trust. This show explored SW Hayter through his original practice and his ground-breaking Atelier 17 workshop in Paris. Included were layered viscosity etchings by Hayter, Sidney Nolan and Ann le Bas. The latter’s copper plates - just under one hundred - were bequeathed to the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE) in 2021. It is fair to say the physical presence of these plates - especially compositions created while at Atelier 17 in the 1960’s – have, in-turn, governed my own practice and propelled my explorations across 2021: a stepping stone to the present work: my ‘William Morris Suite’, ‘John Hoyland Suite’ and recent layered monoprints. The kaleidoscope continues: Harry Clarke’s mesmerising stained glass shines bright in sight and dream, all enchanting. These are fortified by listening to John Cage’s Metamorphosis (1988) especially Number 2,and Edward Elgar’s Symphony 3 together with revisiting music from my childhood especially Seán Ó Riada and Ceoltóirí Chualann. Revisiting ‘A Convent Garden, Brittiany’ by William John Leach in the National Gallery of Ireland during August last year also holds high. Over lockdown I enjoyed contrasting the earlier work of William Butler Yeats with his later poetry. And, the word and story by Beatrix Grant and Claire-Louise Bennett like the pitted surfaces across Ann le Bas’ copper plates make me alert and alive. Each of these creative spirits symbiotically helped the flow of my creativity in the making of this latest body of work. The visual and auditory intertwine. What infuses each of these creative spirits whose thoughts and work help fuel my current making is how they forge newness in expression, each connected to tradition but not bound by it.' - Edward Twohig, 2022

Read more about viscosity printing on our blog HERE.