Description
The central image in Opening & Closing is a two colour lithograph of red and black overlapping hands. Printed on a sheet of paper made by the artist in the form of an abstracted human figure, it was glued to a rectangular piece of handmade-paper using chine-collé. Printed with a letterpress, letterpress the words Opening / And / Closing are scattered across the surface of the print.
Statement
Opening & Closing began as a test piece for an artist book designed in The Center for Book Arts, New York City. The paper was made at Dieu Donné, a papermaking studio in New York City. One copy of the completed book remains with The Center for Book Arts collection, but the remaining copies were never assembled. I was not happy with the final result. The words were printed in a letterpress studio in Brooklyn, the name of the artist-printer is unfortunately forgotten. At a later date, I used this test piece to make this lithograph.
Karen Trask, 2025