MonoPlay

Dave Ladendorf

27 September 2019 - 21 October 2019

OPENING RECEPTION Friday, Day Month 2019, 5 - 8 pm

Bio

Dave Ladendorf is an self-taught Asheville based artist. Initially making sculptures out of remnants leftover from construction projects, he was introduced to printmaking through Asheville BookWorks, a print and book arts studio formerly located in west Asheville. 

Artist Statement 

Officially this series of monoprints is the latest work in a years-long Josef Albers inspired experiment in color run amok. And that sounds about right - especially the running amok part, because a lot of perfectly good prints have been lost, destroyed or sacrificed along the way.

 I start with Masonite and plywood forms with simple, somewhat random, geometric shapes cut into them, and print, wet on wet, using primary colors with a little white and occasionally black thrown in. Layering the ink up, but also pulling ink off. Addition and subtraction. I work on two prints at the same time, playing with the color and texture and imagery as the ink transfers from plate to paper to plate again. Some prints may have up to 35 layers of ink, while others might only have been put through the press a handful of times. The general goal to build complex organic compositions from simple mechanical shapes, but in practice I try not to overthink and just let the process play out. It's more fun that way and it seems to produce better results, although there is often a sacrifice involved.

https://ashevillemade.com/the-gearhead-who-likes-printmaking-equipment-accelerates-his-art/