Mary Shanahan | Liquid Interference

Artist Mary Shanahan has collaborated with Durham Press to create Liquid Interference, a portfolio of six screenprints in an edition of twenty-eight. The prints, which come in a Coroplast portfolio, measure 16 ¼ x 18 inches and are printed on Somerset Satin paper. Shanahan prepared the screens for these prints at her studio in Nevada by pouring liquids such as ink or coffee, allowing them to chemically interact as the stain the surface in complex and stunning ways. From these pours emerges imagery like a pale green ground irradiated by a spreading navy peony, a small eye-like white blot at the center of deep blue and black stripes, or a heavily inked pool of red with a splotchy black nimbus. Resembling photographs whose emulsion has been tampered with, these organic compositions offer a new spin on color field abstraction.