Lydia Dona has collaborated with Durham Press on two editions: a portfolio of three screenprints titled Portraits & Speed in the Architecture of Desire #1 - 3 (1997) and Fuel Injection (2005) which incorporates screenprint and woodblock. Both projects draw directly from her painting practice, using a similar language of appropriated illustrations from car repair manuals conflicting with bold, painterly marks. Detailed technical drawings sit next to loose and looping interpretations of them, all superimposed on an abstract background full of drips and vivid colors. In Fuel Injection, a diagram of a carburetor is cornered machine-like abstractions seemingly exploding from the background, while in Portraits & Speed in the Architecture of Desire #1 bolts, springs, and shafts are almost swallowed by splatters of blue and red yet the clarity of the technical drawing remains strong and assertive. Influenced by Marcel Duchamp, Dona explores the interaction and intrusion of machinery in contemporary culture. Her compositions reflect this discordance by juxtaposing structured and free, meticulous and unrestrained.
For more information on Fuel Injection or Portraits & Speed in the Architecture of Desire, please contact us at sales@durhampress.com.
Hand-carving woodblock for Fuel Injection
