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Emil Lukas | Preparing plate for Double Event (Bubble)
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In his painting practice, Lukas utilizes this ubiquitous packing and shipping product by casting it in plaster and applying acrylic paint to the resulting concave impressions - each of which is slightly different than the one beside it, revealing the differences made by the creases left behind from the plastic or the manufacturer's imperfections in an otherwise uniform matrix. Presented on handmade, triple-thick paper, the bubble-wrap shapes in Double Event (Bubble) are significantly debossed to bring new attention to the dimensionality of the circular marks, imbuing the prints with an almost sculptural quality akin to the plaster surfaces of his paintings.
Lukas' latest collaboration with Durham Press in 2024 expands on Double Event (Bubble) by moving toward more concrete imagery while still existing in an almost fog-like abstraction. Distinct lines and orbs begin to appear, though all are muddled as they interact with their surrounding matrix. Lukas has begun to play with these surrounding matrices, introducing rainbow rolls which subtly influence colors to blend in new ways. Background becomes foreground as their screenprinted matrix pulls forward from its debossed imagery, visually blurring as if looking through mesh. Each print fluctuates as the eye searches for something tangible, always finding new forms in their structured but nebulous abstraction. -
Double Event (Thread) monoprints within this series mimic the Thread Paintings that play a large role in his practice in which he builds by wrapping thread around a frame, allowing layers of different colors to cross over each other and diffuse into an almost glowing composition. In Double Event (Thread), these wrapped threads are not the final artwork but were instead used to expose a silkscreen. Lukas builds these prints layer by layer like in his painting process, creating a complex composition as their colors overlap and interact. Though all five series within Double Event – Thread, Bubble, Puddle, Larva, and Glass – differ in image, each are linked by their relationship with the process that created them. These transformations, carried out with everyday materials and simple means, demonstrate the myriad of ways a single image can be perceived. In Lukas' words, Double Event suggests that "the possibility that the infinity of color cannot be exhausted."
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Double Event, as well as previous monoprints or editions by Emil Lukas, are available directly through Durham Press and can be seen on Lukas' artist's page. For more information, please contact us at sales@durhampress.com.
