Sepik man with gardenia (from The Bicentennial Folio of Prints by Twenty Five Australian Artists)
Artist/Maker and role
Vicki Varvaressos (Australian, b.1949): Artist
Production date
1987
About this object
This print is from a portfolio of prints, 'The Bicentennial Folio of Prints by Twenty Five Australian Artists' which was commissioned by the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, and issued in 1988 to mark the Bicentenerary.
I think what attracted me to linocut printing was its simplicity and its immediacy. I had done a bit of etching and screenprinting at Art School but these didn't appeal to me. I think I found the technical processes frustrating, whereas when I decided around 1980 to try some lino printing, I just went out, bought some lino, tools and paper, carved away and printed them with the back of a spoon - although I think the Japanese have a fancy word for it......
I realise that in retrospect one is inhibited a bit by the formal properties of drawing. That is, it wasn't until later that I let the lino have 'a life of its own' — it's hard to explain - I suppose it is familiarity with anything.
Unlike my paintings, but like my drawings, my prints are usually still-life subjects. Sepik man with gardenia came from a drawing I had recently done. When the commission came up I decided to use it as a basis for the print.
Vicki Varvaressos - from The Bicentennial Folio catalogue , The Australian National Gallery, 1988
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