An old bread board. Instead of throwing it out, or burning it, I decided to make a woodcut. I went for Uncle Death again, because he looks like he could use a sandwich...
I was channeling a lot of artists here. Tal R with the breadboard, though mine was a boring rectangular one. But also Naoko Matsubara and Shiko Munakata, because I decided to cut directly into the block without any preparatory drawing - and let it just take the shape it wanted to.
It's not a great piece, but it's somehow better than it deserves, having taken shape during what I guess Tal R means by "free falling". I tried different papers, too. First the card I normally use, then some Shoji paper which better shows the grain and the cuts and gouges in the board surface.
Anyway, Rugby Cement Works. Looming over the nearby houses. Wherever you are, it seems to be on the horizon, a vague grey mass. Something like Howl's Moving Castle.
The drawing was from memory, so only presents a rough idea of reality anyway. So the fact I just drew it on the block and it's come out mirror image, kinda makes it Every Cement Works in a way.
When I was a kid, there was a carbide works a few miles off from where I lived. No matter how close you got, it remained a flat, black profile. There was no detail you could see, it was so black. Then it was demolished and they built a gearbox plant on the site. Years later and the Bhopal disaster hit the headlines. And there it was, the matt-black monster dominating the town. I've only remembered this after doing this print. Funny how these things will out.
Some seven or eight years later he still wears it. I was at his house the other day and saw it hanging among the more sober coats near the door and had to draw it. It was like a gang. And the blue coat had a kind of leadership role.
I like how the print has gone. Something of the Daniel Richter about it with its slightly threatening vibe, I think. It's a 5-layer reduction print in 2 shades of blue. 3 layers in the lighter blue and two in the blue-grey.
