Theatre Floating

Liz Rideal

London-based artist Liz Rideal uses the photo-booth to create photo collages that when placed one strip of four images next to another set in grid-like fashion, the subject matter looses its individual resonance and acquires a new visual power by its particular placement and association.  Following in this vein, where the artist’s hand is technically removed from the creation of an image, Rideal came to Aurobora to duplicate this process with the machinery, tools and inks associated with the intaglio press.

At the outset of her residency, Rideal began deliberately cutting strips of BFK Rives paper into 8 1/4″ strips.  She then inked black edges to create a simulation of a photo negative frame and then methodically used her hands –along with a single primary color– to create human-sized versions ( 6 1/2′ x 5 1/2′) of  past photo-booth subjects — a circle (blue), square (red) and triangle (yellow) — in a suite entitled Ideal Forms.

In another body of work, Rideal printed inked tarlatan over and over again, counter-proofing royal blues and sepia tones to create shadowy silk-like swirls that mimic her recent photo collages. These monotypes have a fluid, ethereal component to the imagery that mimics the netted fabric and the way each print was deftly counter proofed to create her compositions. 

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Tate Museum; George Eastman Kodak Museum for Film and Photography Museet for Fotokunst, Odense, Denmark; Bibliothèque Nationale (Estampes), Paris, France; Vancouver Art Gallery, B.C. Canada; BBC Arts Council of England; The National Portrait Gallery Clock Museum, Bury St. Edmunds; Edinburgh District Council; The Reader’s Digest; The Mag Collection; The Seagram Collection; The Ferens Art Gallery; The Government Art Collection Birmingham City Museum & Art Gallery; The Victoria and Albert Museum; The British Museum; Progressive Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio; Microsoft Art Collection, Seattle, Washington; Pfizer, Inc., New York; Sidley, Austin & Wood Collection, New York; ABN AMRO Bank Collection, New York