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The Inkery: Gold and Ghost Towns

posted by POP Members January 13, 2021

The Inkery is the printmaking studio of Kevin Allan, based in the beautiful city of Edinburgh. Kevin is a self-taught printmaker specialising in linocut. His current work primarily centres around landscapes. These scenes allow him to be expressive with his mark-making. By making marks with this freedom, he can better reproduce textures as well as add spirit to the final print.

Kevin’s recent works are inspired by his travels across America’s southwest and, in particular, the desert regions. The collection Gold and Ghost Towns features buildings and structures from the historic gold rush towns of California and Arizona. These towns were abandoned decades ago and, while preserved, are in a state of constant ageing, with slowly deteriorating wooden buildings set against the harsh desert landscape.

Each piece is relatively small and printed in black only, stripping the image down to its basic structure, with marks, forms, and shapes creating the mood. Their small size makes them perfect for hanging in multiples; adding to the impact of the subject matter.

To capture the sense of light from the hot desert sun, each piece was created with a broken-up sky, intended to look as if the subject is radiating with heat. The collection of work also mixes Polaroid and old tin style edges within each print, acting as a nod to the past and the image being captured in the moment. All of these techniques were employed by Kevin with the aim to create the feeling of dust, deserts, and decay.

Gold and Ghost Towns was printed using vegetable oil based inks onto 190gsm off-white acid free paper, with editions limited to 100 prints.

www.theinkery.co.uk
@theinkeryprintmaking

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