JONATHAN MORSE

original digital

ABOUT THE PRINTS 

As a traditional printmaker with contemporary notions and modest technical skills, I remain fascinated with Ink on Paper, much as I was in the toxic printmaking days of my youth (photo-silkscreen, offset and plate lithography).  And I’m fascinated as well by paper itself, as new (and often very old) and interesting papers prepared for inkjet printing come to market.  A visit to Hiromi Paper in Santa Monica is always intoxicating…a whole world of visually thrilling and tactile substrates like nothing I’ve seen before.  We creators of work on paper extend age-old traditions, and it’s so true in this field that plus ça change, plus ça ne change rien.  Ink on Paper. 

 

I print with Epson inks and printer (but technology does not make interesting art, artists do). These pigment inks have come so far from the days of Iris dye inks (with those machines’ $100K price tags; what a great democratization of digital printing has occurred). I print everything myself, which allows me to agonize over every speck and hue, proofing long and hard not to perfect but to fully realize my vision.

 

Most of the earlier work shown on this website was done on 24” x 30” Moab Entrada cotton rag, which has a beautiful, traditional and natural look and feel, while retaining the ability to capture the wide gamut and high definition today’s inkjet printers can easily produce.  In recent years I have become more adventurous in matching the look and texture (or lack of texture) of my paper to the concept of the particular series I’m working on, as well as varying the size of some of the series.  So, for example, the Sguardi (“glances” In Italian) series prints are approximately 24” x 60” on Moab Moenkapi Unryu (imported from a centuries-old Japanese company which has charged into the world of inkjet printing). The Reacts and Facets series are printed on the mirror-like Moab Slickrock metallic pearl, the Fabrications series on Moab Colorado Fiber gloss (a photo paper that mimics the old Agfa Portriga Rapid), and the ReflectsPalmiers (24″ x 36″ page size) and Glances (24″ x 36″ page size) series experiment with Moab Slickrock metallic silver.  The newest Moab Juniper Baryta Rag, an all-cotton photo paper, fit with Machinas (13″ x 19″ page size), the very un-photographic Outtakes (17″ x 22″ page size), and Sheets, Verdes, Poseurs, Cubits, Extractions, Situations, Eyes and Quiltings (24″ x 36″ page size)…in fact for the foreseeable future I will only indicate what is not printed on this paper and not at this size.  Juniper Rag has become my goto favorite for its incredible ink receptivity and resulting saturation and detail; with this ink/paper combination I can use a relatively quiet medium to produce the impact of a painting.

 

Of course each series still calls out to me for a particular substrate, as the images must match the unique personality and gifts of the particular paper used both as to surface and ink receptivity.  That is why this is not ultimately just digital printing, it’s more fully ink on paper as printmaking has always been.  I will continue to think about, touch and experiment with new papers that I come upon to harness their unique character in the service of my expanding visions. And in fact, starting with the 2021 series Moods, Sleepwalks and Reductions, continuing through Wingspans I am reversing course a bit and printing on the very beautiful Moab Moenkopi Unryu, a traditional Japanese washi coated for inkjet printing and full of beautiful wispy fibers (which I last used in the Squardi series). But in 2022, with Moab Juniper Baryta Rag back in stock after its manufacturing woes, I am again printing on this beautiful rag photo paper to enable incredible saturation and detail in my prints. Stay tuned.

 

All prints are signed limited edition originals, as all of the images are constructed on the computer and are not copies of anything previously made in another medium.  Original Digital.  Please feel free to inquire as to edition size, print size and substrate for any work you may be interested in.