Christopher Newman {​ Printmedia Artist, Graphic Designer, Expanded Maker ​}​

 

La cara terrestre: Argentina (triptych), shown in the Buenos Aires exhibition La cara terrestre: Argentina and also later selected for presentation in the 2013 Works on Paper Award, Hazelhurst Gallery and the (MOF) Museum of Freemasonry exhibitions, Sydney, 2013
La cara terrestre: Argentina (tryptich)- Waterless lithography 56x228cm 2010 from the exhibition LA CARA TERRESTRE: ARGENTINA, (or THE 'alien' FACE IN THE LAND: ARGENTINA), PRINTS ON PAPER BY CHRISTOPHER NEWMAN IN PROYECTO 'ACE GALLERY, BUENOS AIRES, 18 AUGUST TO 24 SEPTEMBER, 2010 AND AT THE AUSTRALIAN EMBASSY, BUENOS AIRES, NOVEMBER 2010.

This tryptich is an urban work, a reflection of urban Buenos Aires. It depicts my face (the face in the urban jungle) and also two human shadows juxtaposed with urban footpaths, including the cobblestones and drains.

In many of my works, I have either my face or the faces or shadows of others in the land or in the urban jungle. La Cara Terrestre: Argentina (the 'alien' face in the land: Argentina, was later selected for an exhibition held at Proyecto 'ACE in 2010 in Buenos Aires, just after my art residency period.

I depict sometimes my own transient face into the scene ... (or) other faces in the urban jungle ... alienated from nature. This face (my face) or matrix can be seen fused in other works also such as/in a cat in "Stray cat sees secuestros", as/in Patagonia in "Glacier: Patagonia", in the sidewalks of Buenos Aires in "La cara terrestre Argentina (triptych)",or in earlier works as in the Australian land in "The face in the land" suite. The 'alien' face can also be the foreigner, a traveller, a gay man or an immigrant in another land or 'alien' place. Please see below the review of this artwork.

REVIEW:
LA CARA TERRESTRE: ARGENTINA, (THE 'ALIEN' FACE IN THE LAND: ARGENTINA), PRINTS ON PAPER BY CHRISTOPHER NEWMAN IN PROYECTO 'ACE GALLERY, BUENOS AIRES, 18 AUGUST TO 24 SEPTEMBER, 2010 AND AT THE AUSTRALIAN EMBASSY, BUENOS AIRES, NOVEMBER 2010.

 

Chris Newman's latest overseas exhibition, in Buenos Aires, represents a quantum leap forward from, and a development of, his most recent Sydney exhibition, The Face in the Land. He has used digital photography, Photoshop and waterless photolithography, as the basis of the works.

 

Newman studied at UTS, Sydney College of the Arts, and Wollongong University's Faculty of Creative Arts, from where he obtained his Masters. His technique reflects this substantial training.
His bold prints, silver on black paper, depict glimpses of the hidden life of the great metropolis of Buenos Aires -- the night people, cartoneros, who collect garbage from the streets, the cats who seem almost to outnumber the citizens, the ads for prostitutes pinned on trees, or the origins of the tango in the waterside district of La Boca as a dance done between men waiting in brothels.

 

The print depicting cats has a particular interest: many believe that cats can see the spirits of the dead, and Newman has them seeing the spirits of Buenos Aires art students who disappeared during the military dictatorship.
Newman states, in his program notes: "My art is a tool for revival of nature and tradition, a plea for humans to live in harmony with the land, and to identify the transient Outsider's relationship with urbanity." The exhibition is called La Cara Terrestre: Argentina (the 'alien' face in the land: Argentina), and depicts, he says: "sometimes my own transient face into the scene ... (or) other faces, faces in the urban jungle ... alienated from nature."

 

This artist never ceases to surprise with his out-there innovations, his willingness to break new ground, his ceaseless exploration of the possibilities of printworks on paper. One wonders what he will come up with next.
This exhibition, sometimes semi-abstract, sometimes dark, often just short of surreal, blending figurative and abstract images, received rare praise not only from Proyecto 'Ace's Director, Alicia Candiani, herself one of the world's leading printmakers, but also from the city's arts cognoscenti. This in a city where gallery opening crowds actually study the works, unlike many in Sydney who seem more intent on wine and chatter.

 

A one-man exhibition in Sydney seems likely for 2011, when Sydney art lovers will be able to see for themselves some of the more adventurous possibilities of works on paper.
Dr. Clem Gorman September 2010

The cartoneros, the Garbage, dyptich and later (MOF) Museum of Freemasonry exhibition, Sydney, NSW, 2013
The cartoneros/ The garbage (dyptich), (waterless lithography), 120x76cm, 2010

This work looks at garbage as something beautiful. The shadow in the picture is the shadow of a cartonero. The expression "one man's trash is another man's treasure" could not be more true with the cartoneros of Buenos Aires.

 

The 2001 economic crisis in Argentina closed thousands of factories across the country, putting millions out of work. In a city of 15.2 million inhabitants, 40 percent in the Greater Buenos Aires region are below the poverty line and 53 percent in Argentina, with unemployment being one of the chief causes. One means of bringing in an income for poor residents of Buenos Aires and the surrounding areas is to collect and sell recyclable materials, and that is what the 'cartoneros' do: each night, these urban recyclers walk from the shantytowns on the edge of town towards the city centre and wealthy neighbourhoods to look for recyclables.

 

My idea for the image was to reflect the cartonero's life and spirit; not only the human drama and psychological tension, the loneliness of the streets by night, but also waste as beautiful and their job as city recyclers as a profound and incredibly important role.

Stray cat sees secuestros, re-worked from original Waterless Lithograph, Buenos Aires Exhibition to a print on/ in star-fired glass for Sydney exhibition
Stray cat sees secuestros (re-worked lithograph as a print on/in star-fired glass),
60x90cm, and 2012, (printed on / in star-fired glass)

This work is a re-creation of my original lithograph and is a print in glass. Direct to glass printing involves the application of special inks directly on to the surface of the glass. These inks are then fired into the glass to render them permanent.

Gorgeous cats are numerous around the Botanical Gardens of Buenos Aires: they lie and live in the Recoleta Cemetery and many other parts of the city. This work depicts a cat living amongst the graves at the famous Recoleta Cementario, where many famous citizens also lie, including Eva Peron. The cats lie lovingly and peacefully amongst the dead at the cemetery and seem majestic and wise. The work also plays with the notion that cats can indeed see spirits and the afterlife; in this case, spirits of some kidnapped art students represent the 'secuestros'. The faces in this work are a few faces of many art students that went missing from the famous Buenos Aires Art College in Recoleta.
There is a memorial surrounding the art school referring to the faces and names of these 'disappeared' art students during the dictatorship period. As an artist myself, I found a resonance with this memorial and these 'missing' faces of art students and also the faces of the wise cats amongst the cemetery graves, which may be able to see spirits.

Glacier: Patagonia, re-worked from original Waterless Lithograph, Buenos Aires Exhibition to a Big Fag Press Offset Lithograph duo-tone for Sydney exhibition
Glacier: Patagonia
(duo-tone off-set lithograph printed on a Big Fag press), 2012, 62(H) x 98(W) cms (framed) Combined, the Northern and Southern Patagonia Icefield are the largest areas of ice in the Southern Hemisphere outside of Antarctica.

Data suggests that the Patagonian glaciers are indeed shrinking faster now than they did in the last century, with the rate of melting increasing 50% over the past decade (www.inep.org).

This print has been re-worked from my original waterless lithograph from my residency and exhibition in Buenos Aires in 2010 to this new version, a duotone offset lithograph printed on a Big Fag press. It depicts the face as / in the glacier: Patagonia. It also plays with the arctic warming/cooling controversy, i.e. the fading of face/glacier.

Also melting away are offset proof presses since the introduction of digital printing. The giant Big Fag press in Sydney originally by Swiss machinery manufacturer FAG (hence the name) and also the name of the Sydney art collective)) is used by select artists to produce limited-edition fine art prints. Big beauties like the Big Fag have been deemed commercially unviable all over the western world. They have been getting shipped to India or China, or failing such entrepreneurialism, to the local scrap-metal yard.

Tango - Waterless Lithograph from Buenos Aires Exhibition, later re-worked for Sydney exhibition as a print in star fired glass
Tango (re-worked lithograph as a print on/in star-fired glass/ light-box), 60x60x25, 2012, (printed on/in star-fired glass/ light-box), 2012 for Group Show, Sydney, Confluencias : Latin American and Australian Art, 16 March to 07 April 2013, MOF(Museum of Freemasonry), Sydney, 2013

This work depicts a 2 silhouettes or marble statues that have come to life, 2 men dancing tango romantically together at night in the park under lamplight. It has been re-worked from the original lithograph and this version is a print in glass. Direct to glass printing involves the application of special inks directly on to the surface of the glass. These inks are then fired into the glass to render them permanent.