Artist seeks only essentials

Press, 4 December 1985, Page 25

Artist seeks only essentials

By

MAVIS AIREY

“People accuse me of turning all landscapes into Malcolm Warrs,” the artist himself admits. The simplicity of line, the coastal themes, the blended colours have become trademarks of New Zealand’s most popular screenprinter. That suits Malcolm Wanjust fine. He has no time for elitist artists starving in garrets. “One of my main objectives is to make art that is accessible," he says. “I always have the same feeling of wanting to establish ‘This is our environment, where I live.’ I think of the people looking at my works as much as of pleasing me.” In fact, his favourite works he never bothers to show. There is none in his exhibition at the Small Gallery. “They wouldn’t sell. They’re too minimalist,” he explains. His approach is businesslike: it has to be. That is one of the prices of being popular. At his studio on the coast at Waikenae he has built up a staff of half a dozen people, mostly students from Polytech. “I make good money, but I spend it also. There’s the mortgage on the building, and staff wages to pay. You have to have cashflow on a regular basis.” He works a strictly eight-to-five day. “If flashes of inspiration happen, they happen between those hours.” The rewards are not just monetary, he insists. “I get a buzz from it because of the reaction I get from people.” And he has a word for those who would sneer at him for exploiting a successful recipe. “I think I’m a little more

complex than what ends up on the walls. That’s just all I ever show. I make my living from it I have done other things in the past and will in the future.” Now 46, Malcolm Wanstarted specialising in screenprinting only 10 years ago. His early work was mainly oils and watercolours, influenced by the Bauhaus concepts and artists like Paul Klee in thenconcern with colour relationships. When he looks back now he sees a major influence as Don Ramage, his art teacher at Wellington College, who he remembers being “more interested in printing than any other art form.” He also worked in a screenprinting workshop during the holidays. He relates closely to the style of Japanese prints. “I prefer simple statements. I like to pare things back to the essentials.” He finds his own technique of blended colour screenprinting lends itself particularly well to the effects of water and the coast. “I like the simplicity of line you get on the coast, particularly a sandy coast. I’ve carried that simplicity forward,” he says. He starts with a series of sketches, done at different times of the day with varying light effects and changing weather conditions. On a recent trip to North America (which he found “daunting”) he spent much of the time travelling around California sketching. He was struck by the differences especially in colour and light. “For a third of the year the California coast is misty. You notice the haze. Everything is much softer; it fades out sooner than in

New Zealand.” As well as obvious differences in animals and snakes and the detail of coastal wild flowers, he found himself using colours he never needed in New Zealand, such as the reds and browns of “Late Afternoon Garrapata State Park.” “New Zealand colours are usually cooler by comparison,” he observes. Back at the studio, it is a process of elimination. All unnecessary material must go. Finally, he ends up with the bare essentials in a colour sketch he can use to make a master. From this the stencil can be cut. Stencils for each area of the print are hand cut in-

dividually from the master drawing. There may be 10 to 15, even 20 stencils in a single print Within each stencil area, he then mixes different shades of ink on the screen. “That’s the moment when I commit myself on paper,” he reflects. “Everything leads up to that point” The method is very labour intensive, he points out “With blended ink you have to remix the ink every two or three pulls of the squeegee — it doesn’t last for 100 prints.” Hence the need for staff. The blended colour technique is not unique to Malcolm Warr, but he feels he has extended it “I have

tried to absorb influences so that they finally come out as my statements. I don’t like it when artists just regurgitate.” His immediate plans for the future are for more of the same, although at some stage he would like to move into other areas of print making, such as wood block printing, which he remembers enjoying some years ago. The exhibition of Malcolm Warr’s original silkscreen images, including some South Island subjects and several from his North American collection, runs until December 31 at The Small Gallery.