Beatriz Milhazes | Snake and Water Dreaming

Durham Press is pleased to announce two new prints with artist Beatriz Milhazes, titled Snake Dreaming (left) and Water Dreaming (right), that expand upon the large, central flower motif that Milhazes has explored in her practice both in and out of the Press. The woodblock and silkscreen prints are published each published in an edition of forty, both measuring 37 x 46 ½ inches and printed on Saunders Waterford 425gsm paper.

Snake and Water Dreaming share the same composition in a variation of colors using twenty individual woodblocks and thirteen layers of silkscreen. The central flower is derived from a series of drawings created prior to these prints, which Milhazes describes as a spontaneous dialogue between recent observations of tribal art (mostly African) and Op Art from the sixties. In Snake and Water Dreaming, the undulating petals of the central flower made from hand cut woodblocks and silkscreen layers are juxtaposed against the more graphic floral background. The flower seems to pop out from its gray background – its colorful, patterned petals pulling it to the foreground. Though disparate, these elements work together almost symbiotically, highlighting the strength of their imagery in their opposition.