His Story
In the summertime, my wife, Martha Klein, and I go to art festivals that we have been juried into. We've been to Portland, Bellevue, Sun Valley, Vail, La Quinta and Boise among other places. At these shows, many people ask questions about my artwork and want to know what monotypes are, how they are produced, what materials I use and where my ideas for images come from.
Monotypes are one-of-a-kind hand-pulled prints. All of the works I exhibit are unique pieces that are produced on an etching press or hand-burnished. The primary difference between monotypes and other prints (etchings, lithographs, mezzotints, etc.) is that a monotype plate remains smooth and almost all of the ink on the plate is removed when the image is printed. There are no etched lines that can be re-inked and reprinted, so only one version of every image is created.
I use plastic plates to produce monotypes. Images are created on the plate using a variety of different substances such as oil-based lithography ink, oil glazes, sumi ink and water-soluble crayons. When the image is complete, the plate is placed face up on the bed of an etching press and a piece of damp, acid neutral paper is laid on top of the Plexiglas. Felt blankets are placed on top of the plate and the paper. Then the bed is rolled between two large steel rollers. This transfers the image on the plastic to the damp paper (in reversed or mirror image fashion.) You can see photos of the entire printmaking process in my show-and-tell book.
Many different techniques are used to create the initial images. The printing phase of making monotypes is less important than the creation of the image on the plate. I use many tools and coloring materials to produce the images that get printed including stencils, photo-transfers, scrapers, oil sticks, my fingernails, rags, pencils, etc. The most fascinating element of making monotypes for me is the virtually unlimited variety of techniques that are available to produce an image on a hard, smooth plate.
I am fascinated by popular culture, especially avant-garde, large-format fashion magazines. I use images from these publications as the basis for many of the monotypes I produce.
I started working as an artist in 1973 when I lived in Manhattan. I have been cranking out paintings and monotypes ever since, for over thirty years now. I never get tired of going to work, either to my printmaking studio or my painting studio. If you have questions about these matters, please ask and I will do my best to answer your questions. Thanks for your time. Ars longa, vita brevis.
