Tal R | Adidas Boy and : tingsted

About

The imagery for Tal R’s Adidas Boy, a suite of 24 woodcuts, is based on a group of bronze sculptures created for a solo exhibition at Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in 2020. The sculptures are the artists first foray into the medium of bronze sculpture. In the prints as well as in the sculptures, the beholder is introduced to a wide array of animals and people from Tal R's universe. The concept of revisiting his own imagery for a printmaking project is a familiar working method for Tal R. In connection to his sculptures however, this approach seems especially appropriate: the physical act of carving a printing plate and coping with the material’s resistance shares many similarities with the creation of a sculpture.

For Adidas Boy, Tal R carves figures in white lines against monochrome backgrounds, which accentuate the wood grain of the blocks he had been working on. During the test printing process with master printer Julie Dam, he decided not to use pure black ink, but to add a small amount of colour pigment to the individual prints resulting in subtle colour variations. This effect becomes most evident when the suite of prints is installed as a sequence.

In : tingsted, a series of six prints, the viewer encounters people and objects from Tal R’ immediate surrounding–a male figure, flee market finds like masks and toy animals or a flower vase. We are not provided with any information on what intrigued him about these objects; instead, he translates his fascination for them into a series of prints exuding the calm and tranquil atmosphere of the private space they inhabit.

In recent years, the combination of coarse woodcut and etching has become one of Tal R’s preferred printmaking techniques. While earlier print projects oscillated between figuration and abstraction, the portrayed central figures almost merging with their patterned, decorative backdrops, the : tingsted prints feature thick, graphic lines, shifting the depicted bodies and objects into the foreground and clearly setting them apart from the surrounding areas.