Iris/1 – Iris/6, 2000
Etching and white ground aquatint on Fabriano Artistico
Suite of 6 prints; edition of 20
Plate diameter 10 in.; paper size 11 × 11 in.
Published by Manneken Press
The circular form in the Iris etchings draws on two earlier objects of fascination for the artist: the primary mirror of the Hale Telescope on Mt. Palomar—an immense translucent disk roughly 200 inches in diameter with a 30-inch central aperture—and a Neolithic Han Dynasty jade disk, approximately 8 inches across with a 1½-inch hole. This lineage of perforated, luminous circular forms underlies the conceptual foundation of the suite.
The radiating and contracting wavy circle of Iris also reflects natural phenomena: rippling water disturbed by a falling drop, the opening and closing of petaled flowers in response to light and temperature, and the concentric structures and perceptual activity of the eye. The ultramarine ink evokes the violet-blue lupine fields that bloom in early summer.
Each plate is densely worked with hardground and softground line combined with multiple layers of white ground aquatint, creating richly modulated tonal fields. Printed in ultramarine blue from single 10-inch copper plates on 11 × 11 inch Fabriano Artistico paper, the suite consists of six prints titled Iris/1 – Iris/6.