Hot Bed Press 20:20 at Hazlehurst Studios
Words, Hannah Harry
Pictures, Jennie Harper
Set up in 2009 to link with the similarly-named print workshop Red Hot Press, Hot Bed Press’ 20:20 print exchange has since developed into a global phenomenon. With involvement from studios spanning the UK and as far away as Moscow and Hong Kong, the breadth of participation is truly international and the variety of prints impressive.
The collection is currently on display at Hazlehurst Studios, in their new premises at 71 High Street, Runcorn. 547 prints, from 36 workshops and print collectives, cover six walls of the studio, including Hazlehurst’s new dedicated exhibition space. The selection covers myriad printmaking techniques from monoprinting and drypoint to etching, aquatint and screen printing, with a dazzling combination of monotone, colour, text and image. The only constant is the size of each print.
The premise behind the exchange is simple: studios recruit artists to produce editions of 25 prints measuring 20cm x 20cm. The number one print of each artist’s edition then completes an international tour lasting the entire year before returning to Hot Bed Press. It is these number ones that are currently on display at Hazlehurst.
From Hazlehurst printmakers themselves come a group of ten prints, including linocuts by Allison John, John Bond, Cathy Rounthwaite and Rachael Prime as well as studies in colour by Helen Patrick and Cliff Richards. Hot Bed Press’ offering comprises a selection of bright, bold prints, including work by Abi Fairhurst, Alex Hoggarth and Anne Byron, as well as monotone drypoints, etchings and linocuts. A figurative screenprint by Karen Marshall is especially noticeable for its subtle and evocative mark-making.
The exhibition offers a balance between the abstract and representational, with an array of figurative and landscape prints as well as work focused on colour and pattern. A number of beautifully vibrant prints from Hong Kong Baptist University have a striking and modern vibe while, closer to home, a quiet figurative drypoint by Lauren Louise Downey from Liverpool John Moores and an evocative interior by Octavia Inns from Manchester School of Art evoke at once both the Kitchen Sink painters of fifties Britain and the Parisian Nabis Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard.
The offering from Moscow Print Workshop covers a range of atmospheres from the vitality of linocuts by Daria Rudaya and Tasa Rusakova to the reflective vein of work by Vitaliy Shatsky. From Fyns Grafiske Vaerksted, Denmark, subtle and muted abstractions by Peter Bjoernsen, Elsemarie Albrecht and Susanne Baldus exude a calm energy, evoking icy landscapes and swirling waters.
There is a mission of collaboration, inspiration and shared learning behind the 20:20 project. Each print hung in the exhibition space at Hazlehurst contains, on its reverse, the name of the artist and the printing method used. This has the great effect of encouraging curiosity about printmaking techniques: how was this print made? What techniques were used? Could I make something like this?
20:20 brings together printers across the world. The exhibition at Hazlehurst Studios also breaks down the barrier between artist and audience so pervasive in many gallery spaces, with work often inaccessible behind glass or on plinths. The nature of the works on display here, their size and the simple method of display, allows the viewer to feel that art is not inaccessible – its methods can be examined and its techniques shared within a creative network that leads, ultimately, to the creation of new and inspired work.
20:20 was on display at Hazlehurst Studios until 16 June. This year’s 20:20 prints can also be seen online at Hot Bed Press’ website gallery, 2020printexchange.com
Words, Hannah Harry