portada del libro
libro abierto
libro abierto
libro abierto
libro abierto
El resto de las imágenes son descartes o malas impresiones que han sido manipuladas imprimiendo y mesclando diferentes matrices de xilografía durante el proceso de trabajo de un largo periodo de tiempo (un año). Sin tener ninguna idea de cuál es la imagen que quiero, voy imprimiendo con desenfado hasta que la estampa me pida que pare.
Julien Gil Vega
La Habana Cuba
Algunos descates y otras descargas
2017
Woodcut
Unique
120 pages
50 x 69,5 x 3,5cm abierto
50 x 35 x 3,5cm cerrado
Algunos descates y otras descargas (Some discards and other discharges)
The printing process of any graphic technique generates many bad prints and workshop samples which end up in the wastebasket. Some discards and other discharges is a compilation of all those “bad” prints, low in ink, and all the workshop samples and prints which are made to eliminate the ink from the matrix, for the sake of cleaning, at the end of the printing process. All these “bad prints” are usually discarded and not taken into consideration due to their bad quality. The characteristics of these “unfortunate” bad prints have always called my attention because of their flaws, spontaneity and free-and-easy manner, for their marginalization and also because I knew that, somehow, one could make some kind of manual art with all that trash.
I have been keeping these prints for a long time without knowing what to do with them. During the elaboration of one my series, “Baix Ebre”, besides keeping these images, I started printing and discharging other matrixes on them, and I manipulated them at my own will. Thus, they acquired a different character and they turned to be more attractive to me; they were not trash anymore.
Artist Statement
Some years ago, when I was 27 and I left for Europe for the first time, I discovered YouTube, Internet, and all the rest. Then I started studying the different binding techniques, and began to download multiple videos and tutorials on how to bind a book. On my return to Cuba, I studied those materials and, little by little, I started learning the art of binding, getting to be more enthusiastic about this noble process day after day. Besides, I met other colleagues who were also fond of binding, and we started sharing knowledge, videos, and binding techniques.
Two years ago, I made my first art book, and after flirting with some art books, I came to the idea of what to do with all those kept useless prints. Ahaa! Eureka! I will bind them and make a big book out of them. This is how, in an incidental, non premeditated way, out of curiosity and work, Some discards and other discharges was born. Here on the island, one doesn’t always have the ideal materials to create some type of artistic work (if they do exist), and that is why –and also because of their beauty- I continued keeping all these discarded materials in order to work with them later on. For example, I did not have the necessary cardboard for the cover of the book (or a store where I could buy it), so I had to make it myself, pasting pieces and pieces of thin cardboard and methyl cellulose so as to “make” my own version of industrial cardboard. At that time, I did not have the slightest idea of the outcome or its quality, but, well, everything was satisfactory. The whole book is made with recycled material, which I recycled from my own work.