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Simon Ripley

Exeter
Artist printmaker. Director of Exeter's Double Elephant Print Workshop.
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I make relief monoprints on handmade Japanese papers. Each each print is unique. I rarely make editions. I have a painterly approach to print - the colour is layered on the paper by means of lino or wood  - printing wet ink on wet. This gives the work its distinctly marked surface quality. The type and quality of the paper is an essential ingredient and greatly effects the end result. I always start physically, by cutting into the lino block. A range of colours are overprinted one at a time to build up texture and merged colours. I hand burnish the reverse of the paper to lay down the colour. I also use a large 1850's Columbian relief press never removing the piece from the press until it is finished - I make the whole print in one go. Usually I cut and work into the the block between each new colour. My work engages with ideas and experiences of memory. I am interested in an edge of abstraction where images evoke ideas and memories in an audience - so that my work begins to exist for people as they begin to find connections with the work - they begin to 'recognise' suggested passages within the prints. Through printmaking I can deliberately create a distance between the marks I make and the end results of the work - the process means that I never really know how the image will turn out until finally printed. My work particularly comes from an outreach practice with Double Elephant Print Workshop. Over the past 15 years I have worked in a range of community settings - hospitals, schools, prisons, village halls, parks and festivals. Delivering participatory printmaking workshops to a huge range of people.

Find more information on my website blog.

Collections Victoria & Albert Museum Bank of England Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Exeter University Somerset County Council South Devon Healthcare Trust Nottingham City Hospital Starbucks Direct Action Centre for Peace and Memory, Cape Town, South Africa

 

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