WHO ME? LUNA SEA - the gotograph

WHO ME?! LUNA SEA!
...snatching the gotograph...

10 January 2025

Snatching the Gotograph "WHO ME? LUNA SEA!"

The first of these two images shows me while I am busy snatching the second plate of the two-part gotograph "Who Me? Luna Sea". I made these plates as part of a complex piece of postal art I call a "GOT-O-GRAM" for the 2024-2025 New year period. I made in total 20 of them.

This small gallery consists of two images. In the first image, you can see me leaning over my antique etching press that I used to make these 20 prints. On the press itself you can see some prints, plates and frames. In the second image you can see a close up of these items. In my next post I will be describing in more detail exactly how I used these items to snatch these prints. Both of these images show at the bottom left at the very front a look at the results of a successful "snatch" from above. At the front, you can see a print of the first of the two plates (with the floor vinyl plate behind it). On the second, the complete two-plate print, with the single-plate snatch behind it...

Although a "GOT-O-GRAM" forms part of a "Getting Got" interactive art project, I am going to be talking specifically about the printing part of this particular work. In summary, however, two specially prepared pieces of paper or cardboard are essentially folded together to enclose other artworks. This particular (and most recent) GOT-O-GRAM consists of three major interconnected parts: [1] The FRONT Piece, [2] The BACK piece and [3] the Greeting Card. "Who Me? Luna Sea" is on the inside of the front piece of the glueless self-enclosing envelope. On the other side, is the address of the person who has received the GOT-O-GRAM.

.... And since soon these packages will be arriving. I would adore it if you could film yourself opening it or sending me an image of you with the artworks or the packages in your hands. A film of your hands opening the package would be equally adored. Any other type of interaction you make by responding to this piece of postal art in any way you like will be pondered upon and form a part of my creative universe. I'd like to take this chance to thank all 18 people who agreed to receive this package... and also the one who got sent one without knowing he would receive it...

This small gallery consists of two images. In the first photo, you can see me leaning over my antique etching press that I used to make these 20 prints. On the press itself you can see some prints, plates and frames. In the second image you can see a close up of these items. In my next post I will be describing in more detail exactly how I made these prints and used these particular items to achieve to snatch them. 

On the right side you can see at the top one of the "excised" floor vinyl plates. At the end of the twenty prints it is starting to look a bit exhauseted by all the high pressure printing. This is actually the second plate of two. To inked the plates by pressing the engraving ink I had made myself using a process I invented that involved using wax, linseed oil, charcoal, coloured chalk and a rice cooker to make the green and orange coloured engraving ink which was pressed into the "excised" floor vinyl plates. "Excised" means here the thin shiny layer of the vinyl which was gently peeled off after the design was cut into the floor vinyl, revealing the softer layer beneath which absorbs the ink way. With my handmake ink, I was able to snatch up to six prints for every application. I applied the ink by scraping it onto the surface approximately in the position of the excisions, and then running a plastic card over the surface until I was sure that all of the excisions were completely filled. Finally I was able to use a starched cloth to press the ink further into the excisions while I rubbed the rest of the surface free of ink. Although I made a few with acrylic ink, being able to press the oil-based ink into the gotograph resulted in me being able to snatch so many prints for a single inking.

On the left you can observe there is a print that fits exactly into a frame, and above it is a "fitted squishing plate". This printing frame and squishing plate were specifically designed to press this plate. I call it a "squishing plate" because of its function. The cushioned vinyl is a soft as opposed to a hard plate. It has to be prevented from stretching when you apply enormous pressure to it. The squishing plate has a curved edge so that it will shift into place and provide more pressure from above. Only the frame and the plate are rolled through the press (no fabric is required below or above it. This is thus how gotographs are snatched...

...So yes, although you press intaglio inked printing plates to register them, in Zachar teminology, you "squish" excised gotographs to snatch them!

I'm afraid you'll have to get used to me making up my own amusing terminology to refer to the processes behind how I make art. You'll just have to believe me when I say there there is method to my madness: it is all wrapped up in the way I create.

Needless to say, you'll be able to watch me squishing and snatching my way through a whole series of gotographs and 3D impressing plates while I describe how I made this artwork, the other artworks within this year's GOT-O-GRAM as well as various additional works I've been making in which the process is such an important part.

TAGS:

#makinganimpression #gettinggot #whomelunasea #gotogram #printmaking #gotography