The language of print. (Art Watch).As part of Mexico City's Historic Downtown Festival, Mario Benedetti Mario Benedetti (born September 14, 1920) is an Uruguayan journalist, novelist, and poet. Benedetti was born in Paso de los Toros, Tacuarembó;, Uruguay. He is not well known in the English-speaking world, but in the Spanish-speaking world he is considered one of Latin has filled the Museo Nacional de la Estampa with his one-man show of large- and small-format prints and engravings. What typically separates prints from paintings is the depth of the composition, created by a layering of techniques and materials: etching etching, the art of engraving with acid on metal; also the print taken from the metal plate so engraved. In hard-ground etching the plate, usually of copper or zinc, is given a thin coating or ground of acid-resistant resin. , aquatint aquatint (ä`kwətĭnt'), etching technique. The plate is covered with a porous ground, or resist, through which acid bites many tiny pockmarks in the metal. If an area is to be completely white, that part of the plate is coated with varnish. , acid on metal plates, textiles, electric point, silicon carbide silicon carbide, chemical compound, SiC, that forms extremely hard, dark, iridescent crystals that are insoluble in water and other common solvents. Widely used as an abrasive, it is marketed under such familiar trade names as Carborundum and Crystolon. and metal amalgams. But Benedetti goes beyond mere technique, challenging the idea of the traditional print as a closed work of art, to explore the printing process. The Italian artist's work shows a format converted into an element of language that communicates the monumental quality of its production--be the dimensions large or small--to arrive at a work open to multiple interpretations. Talking the Talk Every artist forms their own language using different resources to elaborate new codes of communication. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Benedetti, engraving engraving, in its broadest sense, the art of cutting lines in metal, wood, or other material either for decoration or for reproduction through printing. In its narrowest sense, it is an intaglio printing process in which the lines are cut in a metal plate with a , and more specifically chalcography (printing with engraved en·grave tr.v. en·graved, en·grav·ing, en·graves 1. To carve, cut, or etch into a material: engraved the champion's name on the trophy. 2. metal plates), allows for visual and semantic experimentation that he calls, "a linguistic laboratory." He employs all the technical processes available as an alphabet to construct words, treating the elaboration of an image as an organic continuum--just like language. His understanding of language, and skill at wielding it, is a result of his varied experience as a multi-media artist. His work with painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, film and print has instilled unity and understanding in his expression, allowing a harmonious relationship between the dimension and proportion of the paper and the form of the resulting print. The abstract images represented in his prints are composed of basic drawing elements (line, tone, stain and stroke) combined in the print with the characteristic element of Benedetti's work: light versus dark (rather than black versus white). In a recent interview during his stay in Mexico, Benedetti said, "For me, the sketch, the dimension of the work and the surface space are variables, not only in the phase of technical execution but also in the interpretation and appreciation of the observer. Subsequently, when we are impressed by a work of art, for its dimension, for a work's importance, we have the certainty that none of these properties determine its artistic relevance." Emily Hinch is BUSINESS MEXICO'S contributing editor A contributing editor is a magazine job title that varies in responsibilities. Most often, a contributing editor is a freelancer who has proven ability and readership draw. . |
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