Robyn Blaikie, Jan Crowe, Marcus O'Donnell
What Water Leaves: The Art and Accident of Mokulito
29 Nov - 10 Dec 2023
G2
Opening Night
Friday 1 Dec | 6 - 8pm
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All image-making depends on the alchemy of surfaces: pen to paper, brush to canvas, hand to clay, light to emulsion. This is especially true of mokulito, an experimental form of lithography that uses plywood instead of stone as an image plate. During the inking, mokulito depends on the resistance between water and grease to create rich dark lines and marks in some areas and open spaces in others.
Mokulito produces unique images with both the quality of woodblock prints - the grain of the wood is often apparent - and some of the soft line and inky granulation of traditional lithography. One of the joys and frustrations of this medium is that it is never entirely predictable.
What Water Leaves documents the explorations of three artists: Robyn Blaikie, Jan Crowe and Marcus O’Donnell, working in this medium.
Artist Bio
Robyn Blaikie is an artist inspired by the ever-changing effects of light on surfaces; in the landscape, on the figure, and on ordinary, everyday objects. She is a painter, printmaker and loves to draw, moving between an abstract and expressionistic style, simplifying details. Her work is an expression of her emotional connection to the natural world and stories of family.
Robyn completed her art teacher training many years ago and worked as a teacher for 30 years in Victoria and the Northern Territory. Since retiring she now concentrates fully on her painting, printmaking and drawing work. Her love of the Mokulito process began at Baldessin Press, through a Barbie Kjar workshop.
Robyn has exhibited in many group shows over the years; in 2023: Sol Gallery, Brunswick, Merri-Bek Summer Show, Counihan Gallery, Yarra Sculpture Gallery, Abottsford, Linden New Art Gallery, St Kilda.
Jan Crowe is an artist who paints and makes prints using loose gestural mark-making in order to capture an expression of her environment and convey her personal experiences.
Continuing to hone her skills through formal and ad hoc study with contemporary artists over two decades, in recent history she has turned her focus to various printmaking methods, learning from artists at Baldessin Press.
Marcus O’Donnell is an artist, writer and academic working across traditional and digital print media. His abstract layered imagery explores pattern, chaos and complexity at the intersection of bodies, sexuality, and landscape.
Marcus trained as an artist and exhibited in the 1990s and early 2000s but has only recently returned to public art-making after a time concentrating on his academic career. In 2022 he was awarded 2nd prize in the Jack Wilkins Experimental Photography Prize. He has been a finalist in the Milburn Prize (2023); the Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize (2023); the Olive Cotton Award (2023) and the Tacit Still Life Prize (2022).
He is actively involved in the printmaking community and is a member of the Baldessin Press & Studio Committee of Management, a not-for-profit access, education and editioning studio.
Contact
Phone : (03) 9482 3550
mail@redgallery.com.au
Address
157 St Georges Rd
Fitzroy North, Victoria, 3068
Map
How to get here
Tram: route 11
Stop 21 just north of Edinburgh Gardens
Melway ref: 30B12
Parking in nearby streets
Bus: 504 (Reid Street)
