LEPIDOPTERA

The Lepidoptera project has its roots in Eastern and Western sensibilities and mythological notions of male-female attraction. It is realized by using gestural spontaneity and the graphic precision of printmaking.

The project started with drawings for the woodcuts of the female figure, celebrated in art since the Renaissance, and ink brush paintings for the making of aquatint lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) imagery. Asemic writing, printed from relief etchings, provides rhythmic compositional counterpoints. The addition of wood-type letterpress outside the chine collé image area expands the visual to the entire page while the rich flat black screen-printed strips at its boundaries lead the viewer back into the composition.

Choosing different techniques in collaboration takes advantage of each of its unique properties achieving layering, texture, and sheen in ways where printmaking excels.

Quotes from Sufis Inayat Khan and Rumi open the scene and draw the final curtain.