arvon wellen

The earliest form of relief printing, in the form of woodcuts, first appeared in China in the 5^th century as a means of decorating fabrics. This technique emerged in Europe around the 14^th century; the technique was later used to produce playing cards before book printing emerged.

  Photography and modern printing methods superseded the need for block printing but there was a substantial revival of woodcut prints in Europe, and Germany in particular, during the first three decades of the 20^th century.

More recently in the 1970’s Helen Frankenthaler revived the process under the influence of Japanese woodcut techniques.The subtlety of her colours demanded the use of as many as 46 hand carved woodblocks.

Arvon merges nature and organic forms with the shapes derived from industry and engineering as a reflection of historical and emotional development.

LAYERS

The layered rocks of Cap de Creus remind one of the strata of history where fragments occasionally appear above the surface only to disappear and then re-emerge a few steps away. Layers represent a sequence of time in archaeology and aspects of meaning in literature.

  Colour prints can often be like archaeology in that an underlying shape or texture may show through and modify an upper layer. Print techniques may also resemble literature when colours are modified by placing one upon another and thus modifying the mood.

Cap de Creus

ORGANIC V MECHANICAL

The prints often strike a relationship and a comparison between natural forms and engineered or mathematical shapes; they are not incompatible and are not exclusive. Both geometric and organic forms reflect a tension between order and chaos with the presumption that chaos is only "order" generated from a different set of circumstances.

The beach at Llane Petit; photograph

Rocks, Llane Petit; photograph Arvon Wellen