20/20 Vision, Third Edition

The Art of Contemporary University Printmaking

Scott Stephens

I am interested in how various modes of representation interact with the processes of image making. My current work uses descriptive drawing, photographic depiction, and gestural abstraction to represent the natural world. These images are produced with a combination of printmaking, photomechanical, and digital techniques that may heighten or abstract the representational quality of the work. River Bend is a cyanotype print from a hand-drawn “negative.” The image is derived from a photograph, but is executed in a fluid, opaque medium on translucent Mylar that serves as the printing matrix. I strive to create a tension between image making techniques and pictorial effects: The brush strokes, drips and spatters of the drawing indirectly represent water as subject; the highlights of the image are actually drawn in black and reversed by the positive/negative aspect of the photosensitive printing process; and the photo-chemically derived Prussian blue of the cyanotype serves as the blue of Nature as well as a neutral value range used to render the subject.

My current subjects are views of the natural world, but they are taken from altered environments. The parks, camps and campuses that I visit are created with views in mind; meadows are mowed, streams are crossed with spillways, trails cut and trees trimmed.  My image making practice is aimed at this larger dichotomy of our need to re-create and re-present nature.