Joseph Lupo
LOST IN TRANSLATION: small…mastered…inadequacies!?, 11 x 8 inches, risograph, 2020.
“I realized that if I am going to use these traditional print technologies, I should find ways of acknowledging the history of printmaking while also talking about contemporary ideas.”
Joseph Lupo is an artist living and working in Morgantown, West Virginia (USA). His approach to color is appropriation-based, and his approach to printmaking involves concept dictating process. Joseph’s comic imagery, with its confusing or poetic text, is created using CMYK silkcreen, relief and intaglio in combination with laser-cut plates, and risograph printing.
Currently, Joseph is working on appropriating copyright free French and Spanish language comics. The text in these comics is rearranged into English language anagrams. Joseph explains, “For me, the new English language text is a new narrative, which gets to Poststructuralist and Deconstructionist ideas about how we construct meaning, the fluidity of meaning, and our expectations and assumptions about narrative. Because the original authentic text exists next to the English anagram, this new text also implies an English translation, intended to question the authoritarian voice.”
“I have a weird relationship with color because the colors I use are not mine”
What are the direct references, research, or aspects of history that your work includes?
In my artistic practice, I am always considering how the history of print and our expectations and assumptions about what a print is relates to my work. This all came into focus during a time in my career when I was making intaglio, lithographic, silkscreen reproductions of my receipts. I would redraw the receipts I received throughout the day and translate those drawings into traditional prints. This is when I began thinking about how most people in the 21st century interact with printmaking (through mostly inexpensive digital printers) and how artists and printmakers in the 21st century relate to print (through cumbersome technologies that are hundreds of years old). I realized that if I am going to use these traditional print technologies, I should find ways of acknowledging the history of printmaking while also talking about contemporary ideas.
The history of printmaking and the history of comics are also directly tied to each other. How comics were designed, printed and disseminated is linked to the development and use of offset lithography and halftone color separation for most of the 20th century and digital printing in the 1990’s and beyond. The look and feel of comics were impacted by these print technologies. There are other interesting parallels between comics and print. Both were considered “lesser” artistic practices in the United State throughout the 20th century. And although the US is experiencing a renaissance of both comics and print, throughout their history in the US worries pop up every few years about their impending death and the perception that any new technologies used in their creation degrade their value.
LOST IN TRANSLATION: Plunger pal duties..., 11 x 8 inches, CMYK silkscreen, 2020.
I feel so alone., 10 x 7 inches, CMYK silkscreen, 2019.
Are there specific associations towards color in your work?
My work is entrenched in challenging traditional and Modernist ideas about art, aesthetics, meaning, and the role of the artist in making artwork. I deliberately use color and imagery in ways that are devoid of traditional aesthetic judgements. It is important to acknowledge that as an appropriation artist I am not making decisions about which colors exist in my work. Those decisions were made by artists decades ago for purposes that have nothing to do with the work I make now. So, I have a weird relationship with color because the colors I use are not mine. I don’t mix or overlap flat layers of color or consider creating interesting or beautiful color palettes. I recreate color using digital imaging software and mostly the CMYK screen printing process.
The history of printmaking and the history of comics are also intertwined in the work I make, the processes I use, and the colors that appear in the final version of my prints. I want little difference between the color of the authentic image and my prints. When looking at my prints, I hope the viewer gets the sense of old ink on weathered newsprint. Comics printed 40 or 50 years ago have a certain look to them. They were printed cheaply, using as little ink as possible to keep costs down. And if a comic was used and read for decades, the ink starts to look dull and smudged. I want the viewer to get a sense of that when looking at my work.
“There are no flat areas of color in my work. All color is made up of small, layered halftone dots printed in process colors.”
How does the printmaking process itself relate to how you work with color?
My work appropriates color and images from comics published before the use of digital printing. These comics were printed fast and cheap. The results of this are that the colors that appear in many older comics are a little dirty and color separation layers are often printed out of registration. I want to reference this part of the history of comics and commercial printing in my work, which is why I use CMYK silkscreen printing. This has been the process that allows me to directly reference these “flaws” in the original imagery.
My colors are also directly impacted by the CMYK printing process. There are no flat areas of color in my work. All color is made up of small, layered halftone dots printed in process colors. This pixilation directly creates associations with commercial printing processes and gets away from more traditional associations of how artists create and use color.
It sure has been boring around here... , CMYK silkscreen, 8 x 7 inches, 2019.