About Screen-printing and My Print-making Work

Each one of my screen-prints is a unique work of art and they are “hand-made“ in the true sense of this term.

The process of art screen-printing or “serigraph“ is labor-intensive and requires sustained focus. It is a form of printmaking (creating more than one of an image) that offers the possibilities of color equal to painting.

Basically, screen-printing is the process of pushing thick, colored inks through a mesh screen that has a stencil of some kind attached to the screen. The ink is transferred through the screen on to a surface like paper or cloth. The stencil blocks the inks in some places and it allows it through the screen in other places.

Most commercial screen-printing uses four basic colors and no more than four screens/stencils

My work sometimes has as many as 60 colors and 60 different stencils.

I cut all the stencils by hand using paper and sometimes lacquer film, sometimes photo emulsions. I mixed the inks and did all the squeegeeing (pushing the ink through the screen), registration, drying and everything in the entire process of creating this work, including making all the screens.

But ultimately art is not about technique. It’s just the vehicle and the highway that takes us to where we want to go, to say what we have to say visually. Because art IS visual I want my art to be about seeing something that can’t be experienced any other way; a realization of something that happens when imagination meets material and the process of creation.

All of the different editions, except one, which I will talk about below, were done at Made to Last Editions my printmaking studio in Santa Monica, between 1979 and 1988. The images you see in the “Galleries“ section of this website exist only in the edition; there is no other piece of art that they were made from. Each print in an edition-which is usually very small (between 10 and 30pieces) is considered an “original“. There is a lot of confusion and misinformation in the world of printmaking and print marketing. The prints I’ve done and that you see here are not reproductions of paintings or something created in a different medium, but images that were created in the process of printing itself.

The only exception is the “Janis” print called “Why Is Love Like a Ball and Chain” which is a high quality, limited edition, giclee reproduction of a large collage on canvas that I did in 2000. This is a piece that is a reflection on my relationship to an important person in my life. The original piece has been exhibited in several museum shows dealing with the relationship between art and music.

A “giclee“ print is basically a reproduction of an image copied digitally that was created in another medium: painting, drawing, photography, etc. If it is done to the highest standards it will be on fine, acid-free paper, using inks that are non-fading. A giclee print is not “hand-made“, it’s done with photography and a machine (an advanced, digital ink-jet printer) but it can still be beautiful and it offers a way for more people to enjoy a work of art that is singular.

My aim as a printmaker has always been to achieve the highest level of craftsmanship and to make art that is beautiful, meaningful and hopefully reveals more and more when viewed over time. I invite all visitors to this website to enjoy all my work as an artist and to contact me with any questions about my art.