Nick Christie: Contactless

About

In his recent series of Solarplate and mono prints, the whirls and tracks of the artist’s smeared fingerprints form images that explore the constantly changing nature of everyday communications as we increasingly move from the physical interaction with the real printed page to its simulation on the screen of the smart phone and tablet.

Using found book covers and pages as a starting point, Christie prints them whole using an etching press. The imagery is then synthesised into original plates that can be reworked and drawn upon. This plate making process is chosen in part because of its parallels to the manufacturing techniques of smart phone and tablets. Employing an automatic mark making style alongside the impressions made by the plates, the artist explores the themes of these books. Revealing the hidden textures and memories of their surface in this way, he seeks to create something new and unexpected.

‘Contactless’ is showing at Vane alongside the International Print Biennale: 2016 Print Awards, the centerpiece of the International Print Biennale, which is also hosted by Northern Print and Gallery North.

Presented as part of the fourth International Print Biennale, 16 September – 29 October 2016. The largest and most prestigious printmaking event in the UK with exhibitions and events taking place at venues across the North East of England. Northern Print established the International Print Biennale in 2009 and in 2014 the third edition of the Biennale’s Print Awards welcomed submissions from over 740 artists from 42 different countries. The exhibitions across 25 venues for International Print Biennale 2014 attracted over 130,000 visitors. For more information go to www.internationalprintbiennale.org.uk

Nick Christie was born in 1985 in Croydon and lives in Newcastle upon Tyne. He studied BA Honours Fine Art at Northumbria University, 2008-11. He completed the Graduate Fellowship in Printmaking at Northumbria University in 2011-12, and a Fellowship in Printmaking at Northern Print in 2013.