The first week of this project was about learning to use the medium and understand the potential and challenges of the process.
This weeks’ work focused on working with color and shape to experiment different outcomes, with the goal of narrowing down a process and color combination that yielded interesting results.
I settled on black, red and white as the colors I wanted to further explore, as I found that they worked best within the context of the medium. I used various ready-made stencils and paint application techniques, to explore different aesthetics.
My practice this week was anchored in the idea of limitations as a way to understand design. In essence, the success of this project meant discovering the parameters of the medium and exploiting its capacities. As such, a preconceived outcome was an impossibility. Rather, the medium, through experimentation, led the way to uncovering a workable process.
These iterations were made using paint mixed with glossy medium, which was applied on a screen and printed seven times without adding paint or washing the screen.
These iterations were made by applying red, white and black paint across the top of the screen and then printing seven times also without adding paint or washing the screen.
This way of working is antithetical to the screen printing process, in which the screen is washed after each print. Working this way fulfilled the objective of exploring the limitations of the medium, and helped me work more confidently with the tools at my disposal.
The organic quality of these outcomes brought to the fore the intrinsic tension between the deliberate nature of applying paint and running a squeegee across the screen, with the spontaneous way in which the medium produced outcomes.
Regardless of the intention, the element of surprise always remained, becoming an integral part of the aesthetic.