(Untitled abstraction in bronze, charcoal, and aqua)

Arthur Luiz Piza

This untitled, mixed-technique intaglio features a very deep platemark and gougemarks that present as bas-relief, which are highlighted by the gloss of an enamel-like ink that the artist made himself. Arthur Luiz Piza's work is described on the website of Sam Davidson Galleries (davidsongalleries.com): 'He abandoned traditional etching techniques and, using very thick copper plates, he devised his unique "gouge" technique by incising his designs into his plates with hammers and various shaped chisels. The precision required is exact as his grooves need to be precisely deep and wide enough to hold his hand-made special inks. Because of the depths of the grooves, the direction of the wiping directly affects the final impression.

"Each impression of his prints requires at least 30 minutes between colours in order for the plate to be re-inked and wiped, and he has to use cold plates in order for the inks not to dry out. The process of producing each impression is a time consuming and laborious process of collaboration between Piza and his printers."

Close inspection of this work shows delicately raised rows of gouge marks reverse-printed in a bronze glossy ink, and a collection of arrowhead-shaped marks at the center - also raised, embossment-like - and printed in a sky-blue glossy ink. This small addition of shine on the embossed shapes adds yet another dimension to the print, whose deeply-bitten textures wrestled with the paper during the printing process, warping it ever so slightly.