NICOLAAS MARITZ OEIL DE PERDRIX an exhibition of digital and lino prints
OEIL DE PERDRIX – eye of the partridge “Luminosity of colour in painting and printmaking has always been a tricky matter. Oil paints or printing inks, when mixed, can get very muddy very quickly. In my work I am obsessed with clarity of colour, and addicted to the almost stained glass effect that one can achieve when careful. Bright and opulent colour in any artwork is a pure joy. Nowadays digital printing offers a new art medium, and one where the colours can be as clear and luminescent as you wish. Earlier this year I was commissioned to make a series of twelve digital prints for a wine cellar and tasting room, as part of the refurbishment of The Glebe; a property development in London. Since the space concerned was an underground basement, I was determined that the colours should ideally be as bright and clear as possible. To my mind it was a happy combination of art and oenology, when I read somewhere that the desired light pink pinot noir and rose wine colour is named after the ‘eye of the partridge’; a light and bright hue, beyond which the wines turn a less attractive brown. This seemed to be an apt name for a series of tongue in cheek ‘prints’, digitally imitating the more traditional lino print method. The exhibition features seven digital prints, as well as five traditionally produced lino prints.” Nicolaas Maritz, 31 July 2017, Darling.
Interview with Hentie van der Merwe Hentie van der Merwe (HVDM): This will be the first time that you exhibit at The Toffee Gallery. What do you think about this new contemporary art space in Darling and having your work exhibited there? Nicolaas Maritz (NM): Darling is very fortunate to have such a professional art gallery and I am only delighted to have been invited to exhibit at this beautiful venue. HVDM: You are exhibiting a series of prints created digitally. What is ‘digital art’? NM: Digital art refers to both art that is generated digitally (from graphics to video and sound) as well as art that is printed by digital means. It often is a combination of both and there are many permutations. HVDM: Tell me about the use of digital media in your work? NM: From the very day that I got my first computer, and first digital camera, I have been trying out ways of working with these new tools. As technology advances, there are so many more options, both for working on the computer, as well as for printing my images. Two recent examples of works I created digitally is RHINO STOMPER (2013), a digital collage I made, using excerpts from previous paintings, graphically manipulated in various ways and combined with a soundtrack, that can be viewed on YouTube (https://youtu.be/oDudXuSTLZI). The other is a digital collage album, LOVE TOKEN, I published online last year. (https://issuu.com/nicolaasmaritz/docs/nicolaas_maritz_love_token_album_20/1) HVDM: Is digital art becoming more popular as a medium for making art? NM: The answer is a resounding yes. David Hockney has had immense artistic and popular success with his recent digital drawings/paintings of the Yorkshire landscape. Gilbert & George still garners a great deal of attention for their large digitally produced segmented artworks. Locally, William Kentridge has made several digitally produced and/or printed works. There are many other examples.
HVDM: What does the title of your exhibition, ‘Oeil de Perdrix’, mean? NM: It’s a French term meaning “the eye of the partridge” and refers to a colour value winemakers in France use as a standard in determining the ideal (rose) colour of a wine. Wines of this nature can easily turn brown in the maturation process, so the beautiful soft pink of the “oeil de perdrix” is a most desirable quality. In my own work I am also very particular about colour values. HVDM: What are the ‘Oeil de Perdrix’ works about? NM: I never describe what my works are ‘about’ since I believe the images speak for themselves. I don’t make my work with a ‘message’ in mind, but rather according to the inspiration of the moment, and therefore what the works are ‘about’ is very much the result of the making process. I do however have many ideas relating to colour and the use of line and shape. When exploring the possibilities of a specific medium, my mind adjusts to the physical possibilities, and thus enabled, my imagination seems to have free run. Subject matter is drawn from, and varies according to, the time of day and my immediate environment. The MEMEOLAS series (I – III) I did in 2015 represents a digital image posted on Facebook daily for a year, and illustrate this inspirational method of working very well (https://issuu.com/nicolaasmaritz/docs/ memeolas_2015). HVDM: How are these works printed? NM: The images were printed by a wall-paper company, and I decided to use this method because amongst others, it provided the possibility of using a strong coated paper, which means that the latex printing inks don’t seep into the paper, as with most conventional printing processes. This is a quality which brilliantly enhances the colour strength. After all, art doesn’t always have to be produced by traditional means.
DIGITAL ART Digital art is an artistic practice which makes use of digital technology as an essential part of the creative and presentation process. Since the 1970s, various names have been used to describe the process including computer art and multimedia art, and digital art is itself placed under the larger umbrella term ‘new media art’. The impact of digital technology has transformed traditional fine art activities such as painting, drawing, sculpture and music/sound art, while new forms, such as net art, digital installation art, and virtual reality, have become recognized artistic practices. More generally the term digital artist is used to describe an artist who makes use of digital technologies in the production of art. In an expanded sense, “digital art” is contemporary art that uses the methods of mass production or digital media. Digital printing refers to methods of printing from a digital-based image directly to a variety of media. It usually refers to professional printing where small-run jobs from desktop publishing and other digital sources are printed using large-format and/or high-volume laser or inkjet printers. The greatest difference between digital art printing and traditional printmaking methods such as lithography, flexography, gravure or letterpress, is that there is no need to replace printing plates, whereas in traditional printing the plates are repeatedly replaced. The most popular digital printing methods include inkjet or laser printers that deposit pigment or toner onto a wide variety of substrates including paper, photo paper, canvas, glass, metal, marble, and other substances. In many of the digital printing processes, the ink or toner does not permeate the substrate, as does conventional ink, but forms a thin layer on the surface that may be additionally adhered to the substrate by using a fuser fluid with heat process (toner) or UV curing process (ink). Substrates in fine art inkjet printmaking include traditional fine-art papers such as Rives BFK, Arches watercolor paper, treated and untreated canvas, experimental substrates (such as metal and plastic), and fabric.
Inkjet printing has the added advantage of allowing artists to take total control of the production of their images, including the final color correction and the substrates being used. Over the years, many terms for the digital art print process have been used, including “digigraph” and “giclée”. Internationally, the Yorkshire landscape prints of plein air digital paintings/drawings by David Hockney, and the recent composite works of Gilbert & George, are well known examples of digitally produced art. In South Africa, William Kentridge has produced a number of digitally printed works, including ‘spectrometre digital IRIS’ prints. In recent years, Nicolaas Maritz has fruitfully explored various digital art processes, making use of digital drawing technologies, cut-and-paste collage techniques, and the re-purposing and digital manipulation of reproductions of older works from his traditional painting and printmaking archives, creating a colourfully rich and thematically diverse body of ‘digital art’. A list of the artist’s online catalogues and albums of digital drawings and collages include: DIGITAL SCKETCHBOOK (2015) https://issuu.com/nicolaasmaritz/docs/nicolaas_maritz_digital_sketchbook_ RHINO STOMPER (2015) https://issuu.com/nicolaasmaritz/docs/rhino_stomper_catalogue_2015 LOVE TOKEN (2016) https://issuu.com/nicolaasmaritz/docs/nicolaas_maritz_love_token_album_20 MEMEOLAS VOLUME 1 (2015) https://issuu.com/nicolaasmaritz/docs/memeolas_2015
MEMEOLAS VOLUME 2 (2015) https://issuu.com/nicolaasmaritz/docs/memeolas_vol_2 MEMEOLAS VOLUME 3 (2015) https://issuu.com/nicolaasmaritz/docs/memeolas_2015_volume_3 PROVINCIAL SNAKE JAZZ (2015) https://issuu.com/nicolaasmaritz/docs/provincial_snake_jazz_booklet NICOLAAS MARITZ (1959) was born in Pretoria where he was schooled, as well as in Port Elizabeth. From 1978 to 1981 he attended the Michaelis School of Art at the University of Cape Town. Maritz held his first solo exhibition in 1976, in Port Elizabeth, and since then he has exhibited regularly at galleries and museums in South Africa and abroad. Maritz has lectured in art and design at the universities of Cape Town and Stellenbosch, as well as at private art schools in Cape Town and Pretoria. Apart from receiving ample recognition for his work as an artist during a career that has already spanned more than four decades, Maritz has also received recognition as an illustrator of children’s and other books, notably two American illustration awards. His works are represented in most of the art museums and public collections in South Africa. Locally his work can be seen at the South African National Gallery, the art collections of the University of Cape Town, Sasol US Museum, and the Sanlam art collection. The artist lives and works in Darling.
Oeil de perdrix I (2017) Digital print, framed behind glass Edition of 10 Image dimension: 70 x 70 cm
Oeil de perdrix II (2017) Digital print, framed behind glass Edition of 10 Image dimension: 70 x 70 cm
Oeil de perdrix III (2017) Digital print, framed behind glass Edition of 10 Image dimension: 70 x 70 cm
Oeil de perdrix IV (2017) Digital print, framed behind glass Edition of 10 Image dimension: 70 x 70 cm
Oeil de perdrix V (2017) Digital print, framed behind glass Edition of 10 Image dimension: 70 x 70 cm
Oeil de perdrix VI (2017) Digital print , framed behind glass Edition of 10 Image dimension: 70 x 70 cm
Oeil de perdrix XII (2017) Digital print, framed behind glass Edition of 10 Image dimension: 70 x 70 cm
Previous page: Left: Gecko Face (2017) One-colour lino print Edition of 60 Image dimension: 30 x 20 cm
Right: Lizard Face (2017) One-colour lino print Edition of 60 Image dimension: 30 x 20 cm
Four Cats (2001) Two-colour lino print Edition of 120 Image size: 24 x 25 cm
Karoo Lizard (2001) Two-colour lino print Edition of 120 Image size: 30 x 18 cm
Purple Peeping Tom Cat (2001) Two-colour lino print Edition of 120 Image size: 24 x 25 cm