Gezien op de website van Hansje van Halem
Galerie Block C
poster for John van de Rijdt
Poster #13 for the new exhibition by Galerie Block C with John van de Rijdt. poster for John van de Rijdt
This is the newest addition to my ongoing search to combine pattern, background, systematic approach and (il)legibilty.
SPECIFICATIONS 3 colours risograph, 583 x 413 mm, printed by Charles Nypels Lab Maastricht / Jo Frenken
BACKGROUND
Assignment — In search of a design platform I offered my poster design services to Marinus and Agnes from Galerie Block C, an artist run gallery space in Groningen (NL). Although it became more time consuming than I could afford, this became a very treasurable deal. Besides spending a couple of days (and nights) working on the design, I would travel to Enschede to buy my paper at De Papiertoko, borrow a car to transport the paper to Amsterdam, cycle to different Amsterdam shops for films and ink and take the train to Amsterdams Grafisch Atelier where I would spend an entire day screen printing the poster in a print run of 60 in two layers. After I would meet up with the son of the gallery keepers who would bring the posters to Groningen by train. Still, I'm so excited to build this series on the account of the gallery that it's not quite clear who is doing who a favour. What I receive in return is a client who trusts me and is willing to take a risk together. Design-wise I gain a tremendous amount of inspiration from the design process for these posters that it fuels my other work.
Screenprinting — For the first 11 Galerie Block C posters I have used the Galerie Block C poster series to explore screen printing. I used the technique to print on coloured paper, using one or two colours. More than once I used opaque white to block the coloured paper and show the colour of the second printing layer. In the first posters I benefited from using odd papers with texture and sparkles. As the series continued, the ink started to take more space and the paper became less visible. The coloured paper prevented the colours to pop and the texture would make it difficult to print without flaws.
Risography — I have always been hesitant to use risography. I was prejudiced, finding the technique too dictating. The oily soy-ink requires a specific type of paper and the colours are very attractive but unmistakably riso-colours. I feared a design would be determined by riso in the first place, by me in the second. But since getting in touch with Jo Frenken from the riso-workshop Charles Nypels Lab for a last minute project I felt at ease with the collaboration, the result and saw opportunities. Thanks to the gallery who was willing to raise their poster-budget, I changed the poster from 35 x 50 cm portrait screen print to 58,3 x 41,3 cm landscape riso print.
I expect the changes in design approach to go step by step. Although I benefit from what I've learned from screen printing, it's quite a shift being limited in colour and paper. I enjoy the journey of the proces to get to know this new technique and benefit from the new limitations.
Digital design
Digital design, detail
Risoprint layer 1+2, detail
