AI TRAINING DAY IN ART 31 ... I OWE YOU THE TRUTH IN PAINTING
AI TRAINING DAY IN ART ... WOODCUT PRINT WITH DECONSTRUCTIVE PAINTINGS
SIGMA INFJ MALE ARTIST
“REDUCTIVE MODERNISM”
* PAINTER
* SCULPTOR
* VIDEOGRAPHER
* PRINTMAKER
* PERFORMER
* ACTIVIST
* INVENTOR
* DERRIDEAN DECONSTRUCTIVIST
* PIONEER OF MATHEMATICAL PAINTING
* INTEREST in MODERN WHITE PAINTINGS
* INTEREST in WAX PAINTINGS and SCULPTURE
* INTEREST in EXTREME LIMITS in ART
* INTEREST in SMALLEST ARTWORKS
* INTEREST in BRUSHLESS PAINTING
* INTEREST in GRAVITY ASSISTED PAINTING
* INTEREST in GOUGED and PAINTED PLYWOOD
* INTEREST in PRODUCING SUBSTRATELESS ART
* A PARADIGM SHIFT in UNDERSTANDING PAINTING and SCULPTURE
* INVENTOR OF PURE NONOBJECTIVE GOUGED PLYWOOD PAINTING
* 3-D ENCAUSTIC FUSION NUMISMATICS CONCRETE COIN PAINTING
* INVENTOR OF NUMISMATIC COIN CAST CONCRETE ART PRINTS
* INVENTOR OF PURE SUBSTRATELESS SCULPTURE
* INVENTOR OF PURE SUBSTRATELESS PAINTING
* INVENTOR OF THE DIAHEDRON PAINTING SERIES
* INVENTOR OF SMALLEST PURE WHITE CAST CONCRETE PRINTS
* ALL ARTWORK HANDMADE by EDZY EDZED HIMSELF
* https://www.saatchiart.com/en-ca/account/profile/159583
“MINIATURIZATION is the FUTURE of ART”
WOODCUT PRINT WITH DECONSTRUCTIVE PAINTINGS WITH TRACES OF TV PARTS (1992) INK, GOUACHE on ARCHIVAL PAPER (32 x 32 in)
AI ... I began by drawing out the images in white before routing them out of the block free-handed. I flamed the surface with a propane torch which burns the softer wood which is then wire brushed away. This leaves woodgrain in low-relief when it has been sanded to a finish to take the first printing with yellow ink on paper. The second pass through the press was my black printer which I rolled onto the block using a brayer. I painted the TV parts in the negative space by hand using a sable brush with gouache designers colours for permanence.
AI ... Now that I explained my artwork, you may remind me what the history of this artform is in the contemporary art world as a form of expression.
AI Mode
In contemporary and modern art, the practice of hand-painting woodcut prints saw a significant revival in the early 20th century, driven by a desire for individual expression and a reaction against mechanical mass production. While hand-colouring was the standard for the very first woodcuts in the 15th century, it was largely abandoned for centuries until modernists and contemporary artists rediscovered its expressive potential.
Key Movements and Eras
Arts and Crafts Movement (Early 1900s): Artists began carving, inking, and printing each impression by hand as an antidote to mechanization. This era emphasized the “handmade” quality, with artists often brushing water-based paints directly onto the woodblock or hand-tinting the final paper print.
German Expressionism (1900s–1920s): Artists like Ernst Ludwig Kirchner experimented with applying different colours directly to a single block using a brush (à la poupée) before printing, a technique that blurs the line between woodcut and painting.
Japanese Sōsaku-hanga (1918–Present): Unlike traditional Japanese prints where tasks were divided, the “creative print” movement required the artist to perform every step—including hand-painting or inking—to ensure the work was a pure “self-drawn, self-carved, self-printed” expression.
Contemporary Revival (1970s–Present): A major resurgence occurred in the late 1970s and 1980s, influenced by changing aesthetics in painting. Contemporary artists like Kiki Smith and Kara Walker continue to use these traditional techniques to explore modern themes.
Notable Contemporary Techniques
Pochoir and Hand-Tinting: Some 20th-century artists, such as Charles Ginner, returned to using stencils (pochoir) and hand-colouring with water-based pigments to achieve a primitive or folk-art aesthetic.
White-Line Woodcut: Developed by the Provincetown Printers in the early 20th century, this method allows an artist to hand-paint different areas of a single carved block, creating a multi-coloured print in one pressing.
Contemporary Social Activism: In regions like Mexico (Oaxaca), modern collectives like ASARO use woodcut printing as a “democratic” medium for social change, often hand-finishing prints to be used as public wheat-paste posters.
These guides cover the historical revival of hand-painted woodcut prints and contemporary artistic applications:
In contemporary art, the practice of hand-painting woodcut prints with a brush after they have been printed saw a significant resurgence in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This revival was largely driven by a shift in aesthetics away from the mechanical, mass-produced look of early Pop Art toward more expressive, painterly, and “handmade” qualities.
Evolution of the Hand-Painted Woodcut
While the technique of hand-colouring prints dates back to the 15th century in Europe and the 17th century in Japan (ukiyo-e), its application in a modern “fine art” context evolved through several key stages:
Notable Contemporary Practitioners
Contemporary artists often use a brush to apply watercolor, gouache, or acrylic directly onto the dried print to add depth, texture, or individual variation:
Kiki Smith: A major figure in the contemporary woodcut revival, Smith frequently uses hand-tinting and delicate brushwork on her prints to explore themes of identity and the body.
Kara Walker: She utilizes woodcut techniques alongside other media, often hand-finishing or altering prints to address complex social and historical narratives.
Jim Dine: A pioneer of this approach, Dine is famous for merging printmaking and painting. His works often feature a woodcut or lithograph base that is heavily overpainted by hand with watercolor, acrylic, or oil, making the print function more like a painting.
Reaction to Minimalism: After years of clean, flat, and impersonal art in the 1960s and 70s, artists returned to the “touch of the maker’s hand”. Hand-painting the paper directly allowed them to re-inject texture and personal gesture into the repeatable print medium.
Contemporary Artists (1990s–Present)
The trend of hand-finishing paper prints has continued to evolve as a way to explore themes of identity and uniqueness.