LEON KOSSOFF Unique Prints from Paintings at the National Gallery

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Art Space Gallery is proud to announce the first solo exhibition of Leon Kossoff's unique prints. Inspired by the paintings in the National Gallery's permanent collection, these etchings and drypoints are unusual in several ways, not least in the fact that they are all unique prints. Instead of making an edition of an image, Kossoff has opted to make each print different by adjusting it before it goes through the press - wiping the plate for different strengths and absences of ink, varying the intensities of line and tone. Thus, although there are multiple images from every plate, each one is substantially different from all the others. This extremely subtle manipulation of the values of an image results in a range of expression far beyond what is usually expected of etchings, a range which approaches the painterly in its richness. Kossoff works with the painter and printer Ann Dowker to achieve this formidable variety of mark and expression, and together they explore the remarkable potential within a given plate. Kossoff is celebrated for his draughtsmanship, and has himself admitted I think of everything I do as a form of drawing", and yet his international reputation rests on his skill as a painter. In this exhibition we are shown clearly how his graphic shorthand is informed and balanced by a painterly sensibility, both of which work together to produce art of the highest order of originality.