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idratherbefishingg · 4 years

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Linoleum Printing Essay

Before the use of linoleum as a printing method, the oldest form of relief print is woodcut. Woodcut printing was used to produce images, text or patterns and was used widely throughout East Asia. It originated in China as a method of printing on textiles, but the method grew and was expanded to include printing on materials such as paper too. Ukiyo-e is the most well-known Japanese woodblock print and was made very famous by the artist Hokusai with his woodblock print The Great Wave Off Kanagawa. While this was a popular and effective printing method, its popularity decreased over the later years due to its price compared to the inexpensive linoleum. (Wikipedia Contributors, 2019)

Linoleum came about around the 1800s, starting off as a new type of flooring. This material was made from linseed oil and would then be heated and pressed into a mesh to hold it all together (Curious Seagull, 2017). It was invented by a man named Frederick Walton, who first patented the material in 1860 (Boarding All Rows, n.d.). Although lino was originally designed for flooring, even before it appeared in the artists view, it was also used to create patterns for wallpaper. Now during this time period, the most common forms of relief printing were wood and metal, which were used all over the world.

The transition from linoleum flooring to lino printmaking isn’t very clear due to a lack of research and documentation, although there are chunks of information here and there which can be used in order to attempt to piece it together. It is said that from the 1900s, linoleum had started to be used for wallpaper patterns in Germany and from there had gained traction, going on to be widely popular within the German expressionist and Russian constructivist movements. From then on, people recognised lino as a cheaper alternative for relief printmaking and much easier to carve due to its consistent texture compared to grainy and imperfect wood. It was brought into schools as a cheaper method to demonstrate carving and easier for the students to use and buy. (Curious Seagull, 2017)

The materials necessary for linoleum printing include; linoleum, a carving blade, a marker, a sketch, water-based relief ink, a roller and some tracing paper. To begin the process, you would create a sketch or choose an image that you would like to create a print from. Depending on preference, you would either draw straight onto the lino or could trace a drawing and transfer it onto the lino instead, the latter allowing for a clearer vision of a finished product. From there you would use a marker to indicate either the areas which you want to cut out or the areas you want to keep. Then taking the carving blade of the desired size, cutting and removing the areas which are to remain un-inked. Once completed, take the roller and roll out some ink, ensuring it is not too thick, and roll onto the linocut until fully covered in ink. The paper is placed on top of the inked lino and the roller is used to create pressure, which allows the ink to be transferred to the paper, then once satisfied the lino is peeled off to reveal the print.

The three lino print artists whose artwork I will look into are; Ethel Spowers, Valenti Angelo, and Tom Hazelmyer. Starting with Ethel Spowers and her piece Wet Afternoon. Ethel was born in Melbourne on 11thJuly 1890 into a fairly wealthy and cultured family. The wealth of her family allowed Spowers to be able to train as an artist in both Melbourne and Paris, notably with André Lhote (a famous French artist). Spowers was first known for illustrating fairy tales, however her style had changed in 1928/29 when she studied linoleum printing with Claude Flight. Her lino prints are renowned for being bold but simplistic and for her interesting use of colour (Wikipedia, 2020). Her piece “Wet Afternoon” gives a sense of peace and calmness through the use of muted colours in a rainy scene. The sense of movement in this piece is prominent through the ongoing lines of rain and the numerous umbrellas in the piece, creating the feeling of a bustling street and people trying to fend off the pouring rain. It feels like a very real piece of work, as if you could easily place yourself in the print, amongst the many umbrellas. The people in the print are anonymous – you cannot tell their age or their gender or even if they have hair, but dispite the unfamiliarity of these people, they still feel very much alive and are an important part of the feeling of this piece. I rather like the composition of Wet Afternoon because of Spowers use of colour and positioning. The starch white of the umbrellas in the background help to focus the viewers eyes on the foreground instead, seeing more of the colour and detail before then roaming your eyes back. The way that the rain falls almost makes it so you must look diagonally at this piece, creating a unity in the piece as the rainfall covers the whole print. Overall, the emotions this piece creates are very calming to me and that is why I chose this print from Ethel Spowers.

The second artist I’m looking at is Valenti Angelo, he was an Italian-born U.S. illustrative artist, illustrating about 250 books. For printmaking, his favourite medium was linoleum. I’m going to analyse his print Cat (Nydam, 2014). This piece represents a very dark side to lino, not in a sinister way but an actual darkness. Angelo’s use of the carving tool to create the small delicate lines allows for a soft appearance despite the high contrast, giving an overall soft feeling. The deep black used all over the piece makes way for very defined and distinct shapes and form, creating a gentle night-time scene. Despite the fine, intricate lines this piece still contains a very strong and hard-hitting image. The repetitive, small carvings of the cat’s body help to create a round motion, giving the cat more of a realistic feeling, almost as if the cat could jump out of the print. The contrast between white and black and the delicate versus the strong shapes creates a vivid scene that anyone could envision themselves in, creating almost a homely vibe to this piece. I feel like Angelo tried to create a very comforting yet almost daunting piece, the cat’s stare being very intense but the flowing of the curtains and the lines on the table being calm. Overall, I think Angelo’s use of negative space, specifically in the shadows on tables, and the subtle carved lines really bring together the intensity of this piece, despite how gentle the carving seems to be.

The last artist I want to analyse is Tom Hazelmyer and his piece Gay Witch Abortion Bash. Tom is best known as a musician and founder and owner of the independent label Amphetamine Reptile Records. He is also the lead singer and songwriter for the band Halo of Flies. Despite being big in the music industry, he’s also very deep into printmaking. He started his interest into printmaking because of his daughter, she had a project to do with lino printing and he decided to help. It was from there that he developed a love for it. His piece Gay Witch Abortion Bash is an album cover he designed, it’s a very striking piece because of the bold lines and colours used (White, R. 2015). The texture of the print creates a roughness that goes hand in hand with the provocative subject matter of this piece, helping to bring together the whole feel of it. The piece frames itself using the writing above and below, the writing uses up negative space smartly to draw the viewers eyes around the piece and create a border without it being an obvious choice. The contrast between the white outline of the rat and the smaller brown and red lines creates an almost 3-Dimensional quality to the piece. The lack of difference of tone throughout most of the piece allows the white outlines to act as a focal point, making sure your eyes are drawn specifically to the rat’s face. As red is the most striking use of colour in the piece, it almost screams at you to look at it, similarly the music this album cover was created for is classified as noise rock, creating a link between the album cover and the music. The gritty look of the print relates closely to how people perceive wild rats, as things such as dirty pests, disease carries, etc. Overall, the emotions this piece creates within me is a quite a strong excited feeling, the visually impactful focal point of this piece is almost shocking to the viewer, inciting raw emotion.

Bibliography

Curious Seagull. (2017). A Short History of Lino Printing…. [online] Wordpress. [Viewed 14th March 2021] Available at: https://curiousseagull.wordpress.com/2017/06/20/a-short-history-of-lino-printing/

Linocut Artist | Boarding All Rows. (n.d.). Linocut Artists and History. [online] Boardingallrows. [Viewed 14th March 2021] Available at: https://www.boardingallrows.com/history-of-lino-printing-and-famous-linocut-artists.

Nydam, A. (2014), Block Prints by Angelo. Black and White – Words and Pictures. [online]. (4/2/2014). [Viewed 14th March 2021]. Available at: https://nydamprintsblackandwhite.blogspot.com/2014/02/block-prints-by-angelo.html

White, R. (2015). Interview - HAZE XXL. [online] MPLSART.COM.[Viewed 14th March 2021] Available at: https://www.mplsart.com/written/2015/07/interview-haze-xxl-

Wikipedia Contributors (2019). Woodblock printing. [online] Wikipedia. [Viewed 14th March 2021] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodblock_printing.

Wikipedia. (2020). Ethel Spowers. [online] Wikipedia.[Viewed 14th March 2021] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethel_Spowers.

#block2 #mb hndcpm1 #bm_hndcpm1

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raz0rkin · 4 years

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My insperation for this blocks project was Tom Hazelmyer, he is a musician and printmaker. He started up printmaking after he came out of a monthlong meningitis/encephalitis-induced coma, doctors told him to go home and do Sudoku puzzles to regain his motor skills and brain function. He basically said "Screw that" to the doctor. “Veronica had a school project at home, some carving stuff, and we got some linoleum slabs and I started dickin’ around with it,” Hazelmyer said. “The brain damage was such that writing and some other stuff was scrambled up. So you have to relearn how to do everything, think about doing it while you’re doing it, and it’s to the point now where I can write backward upside down.”

Hazelmyer became “completely obsessed” — a phrase he uses often to describe his many projects. His office walls overflow with new prints by his artist alter-ego HAZE XXL.

I think what really struck close to me about his artwork is how much he adores the process of lino, I've loved lino for years and seeing someone just pick it up and instantly adore it is really great to me. I also adore how dark and blocky his prints are, its very similar to how i've always done lino prints and the familiarity feels really nice, especially as an insperation.

#ci hndcpm1 #tumblr rooms

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lilyrobertsyr2fmp · 4 years

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Tom Hazelmyer

Hazelmyer is an American musician and printmaker. He is known as the founder and owner of the independent label Amphetamine Reptile Records as well as being the lead vocalist and songwriter for the band Halo of Flies.

Now this art style is much more modern, using abstract versions of characters like Mickey Mouse to say weird things such as ‘hepatitus’ or ‘high desert overdose’. The colour scheme is always red, black and white, which doesn’t appear to be much, but on the other hand they can be seen as working with the drugged out appearance of the art.

This style doesn’t work with any of my pieces, not even the story about a drug trip, it’s just too dark and weird.

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doomedandstoned · 7 years

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MELVINS!

Live 'n' Loud in Portland

Stephanie Savenkoff: Review & Photos

Shelby Kray: Live Concert Footage

Tom Hazelmyer: Linocuts

On July 12th, 2017, Doomed & Stoned dispatched me to photograph MELVINS at Hawthorne Theater in Portland, Oregon. It was my first time seeing them live and they exceeded any expectations I had. The crowd was primed and ready after hearing opening act, Brooklyn "dream sludge" duo Spotlights and with the Melvins set all ready to go, there was only a short wait. The crowd erupted when they hit the stage and I cheered when King Buzzo's white, bouncy mop came into view. I rejoiced at the sight of that multi-colored, metallic-threaded muumuu and those shoes!

The Seattle iconoclasts opened with a cover of "Sacrifice" by Flipper. After the first few notes, the energy level climbed even higher as people responded enthusiastically to the familiar song. Many sang along and bodies moved to the driving beat. After that, it was a tapestry of angst and fury, punk and grunge and hard-hitting sounds of heavy guitar and heavier drums. I had no idea what Buzz was singing about, but I found I didn’t care. It is the feeling and the energy that grabbed me and shook me, refusing to let go until the last notes faded away.

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Buzz Osborne didn’t engage with the audience, other than to stand at the very edge of the stage just behind the rail a few times. I am not normally in front at shows and this time I was right there, right at his feet. When Buzz would lean over his guitar his head almost touched mine! He shredded with his eyes closed most of the time and would occasionally smile a little secret smile that made you wonder what he was thinking. He marched and stomped around that stage, owning it from start to finish.

Steve McDonald amused me with his fur vest and stage play -- pretending to trip and fall without ever doing so and throwing some kicks (always my favorite), as well as playing from his knees. At one point, he lifted his guitar up to his chin and proceeded to play it as if it was a violin without a bow. His animated face kept you watching to see what he would do next.

Dale Crover was all but invisible behind his drum kit, but he was a force of nature back there and thunderous with those sticks. He had a Sylvester The Cat plush toy sitting on one of the drums and I am amazed he managed to stay there for the whole set with all that banging!

I was there to take pictures, but there were times when I lowered my camera, hung onto the stage rail, and let the music take me, bucking me like a wild bronco. Both “It’s Shoved” and “The Bit” had a rhythmic push-and-pull that I couldn’t help but move to. Buzz wailed with a spooky, mournful tone reminiscent of Adam Alexander of Die Like Gentlemen and sometimes had an angry growl like Wallace Charman, front man of PDX rockers Pillowfight. Near the end Buzz held out his guitar, as if an offering to the God of Sludge. If that explains his genius and amazing creations, then consider me a disciple.

Meanwhile, Dale teased us all with a crescendoing drum groove in the final moments of the last song and then left us all hanging, standing up and not delivering that phrase ending downbeat. Always leave ‘em wanting more! That was exactly the case. People were shocked and sad when the house lights came on and they realized there would be no encore. The Melvins truly left everyone wanting more and I, for one, am looking forward to their next visit to P-Town.

Follow The Band.

Get Their Music.

#D&S Concert Review #Melvins #the Melvins #Seattle #Washington #Sludge #Metal #Grunge #Stephanie Savenkoff #Shelby Kray #Photography #Live #Concert #Hawthorne Theater #Portland #Oregon #Doomed & Stoned

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rastronomicals · 9 months

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1:03 PM EST December 30, 2023:

Halo of Flies - "Death Of A Fly" From the album Music For Insect Minds (1991)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

So what might "Death of a Fly" conjure in my mixed-up mind, so cluttered after the collection of 55 years of cranial junk?

Well, informed of the famed Funeral for a Fly long ago by a thrift store Robert Ripley paperback, I cannot help but think of the darkened ruins of a mausoleum built on Equiline Hill by the Roman poet Vergil. I think of a common housefly laid to rest 2000 years ago in a massive marble catacomb with paid mourners feigning grief by torchlight as their wily patron looks for one of the most twisted tax breaks ever. And I think of Vergil himself, as emcee and chief eulogist for his supposedly beloved pet that night, wearing a tight black t-shirt underneath his tunic, stepping to the mic and wailing on about the "DEATH OF A FLY!" before stepping back and letting Hazelmyer take one of his quāālude freight-train solos.

The A-side of the Halos' sixth 7" is some of the greatest scuzz-rock in this half-acre or hell's, and Vergil would know, too. Tom Hazelmyer said that he wanted to play like Scratch Acid, but all his fingers could do was play Wayne Kramer. Don't let that fool you; like their conceptual forebears The Sonics and The Stooges, Halo of Flies will reveal themselves as damned good musicians on those occasions when you dig past the glorious aural sludge.

Garage rock became garbage rock and ex-Marine Hazelmyer's thinly veiled contempt for most on this mortal coil became the fuel for not just a lo-fi band with all the right modpunknoise influences, but also an entire goddamned record label--though let it be said right here and right now that I sure as hell don't go in for that 300-copy limited edition bullshit.

Anyway . . .

There was once a man who disguised himself as a housefly and went about the neighborhood depositing flyspecks. Well, he has to do something hasn't he? said someone to someone else. Of course, said someone else back to someone. Then what's all the fuss? said someone to someone else. Who's fussing? I'm just saying that if he doesn't get off the wall of that building the police will have to shoot him off. Oh that, of course, there's nothing so engaging as a dead fly. I love dead flies, the way they remind me of individuals who have met their fate . . .

That's a more recent poet, Russell Edson, and the name of the poem is "The Death of a Fly," encountered 25 or so years ago when Cerveza was snarfing down the profoundly weird prose-poetry of Edson like cough syrup or something. I doubt Vergil would have approved, but I have an idea that Hazelmyer would, especially the part about "individuals who have met their fate."

File under: Garbage Rock

#Halo of Flies #Music For Insect Minds #Death Of A Fly

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