kari kristensen
Forest Whorl, Linoleum print, 22 x 24 paper size/18 x 20 print size, 2021
“That celebration of linoleum, the investigation into the limits of line, that is why I remove most colour from my work. The viewer is left imagining what isn’t there.”
kari kristensen is an artist living and working in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada). Her approach to color is mostly monochromatic and her approach to printmaking is in pursuit of its contemporary capabilities. kari’s imaginatively linear work and soaring landscapes are created with evenly inked linoleum and relief processes. She also works with monoserigraph methods of printmaking. Currently kari is furthering work on her current series, Peaked, as well as translating her print work into murals.
How does the printmaking process itself relate to how you work with color?
Linoleum printmaking has been done in a very traditional way for a long period of time. It's also the 'gateway' printmaking medium, meaning it is often a students first introduction to print then often discarded for other processes. I am celebrating linoleum printing in my work, throwing it a parade.
My carving skills are what sets my work apart. An incredible amount can be said with just a little line–anything other than line is a distraction. But within line manipulation lurks shadow and light and gradation, everything one would achieve with tone and hue. There's no better medium to do this with than linoleum, its crisp edges and even surface. That celebration of linoleum, the investigation into the limits of line, that is why I remove most colour from my work. The viewer is left imagining what isn't there.
“When looking at my work, colour is not the most obvious association one might have, but I think the absence of colour is in itself not a reason to say it doesn’t contain colour. Within a single colour, the light and shadow imparts a range of colour.”
Del Campo, The Mountain Falls to the Sea, Linoleum print, 20 x 24 paper size, 16 x 20 print size, 2020
Forest of Peaks, Linoleum print, 22 x 22 paper size/18 x 18 print size, 2020
How does color represent or support the mind space of your work?
In an earlier series of mine called Imagined Landscape, I used just one colour, Prussian blue. That particular series was a re-imagination of the Canadian Landscape tradition, and Prussian blue to me is the perfect marriage of the sea and the sky, and its depth helps convey the gravitas of the subject matter.
My current work is completely done in black ink. It emphasizes light and shadow to bring them to an almost romantic place, and landscape is primarily used as a vehicle to create an emotional reaction, using awe-inspiring imagery to evoke the sublime.
Instead of seeing the black ink in this work, your eyes are drawn instead to the areas of light, the carved away parts. In that way, the viewer is carried into the feeling and the meaning of the work, more than the associative imagery.
What can printmaking ink achieve regarding color in your work that no other material can?
I use an ink with a very high pigment count--that makes the black even blacker. It's a purity of colour, and when applied and printed correctly, the most beautiful, even surface is the result. Again, there are no distractions to the lines.
What color do you wish you could buy? Why this color?
Egyptian blue. Used for thousands of years and the manner of its creation was lost. The Romans also used it extensively and called it caeruleum, which provided the English word cerulean. Its said that it absorbs visible light!
Forest Tower, Linoleum print, 22 x 22 paper size/18 x 18 print size, 2020