Slip/1 – Slip/8, 1998
Etching with hardground, softground, drypoint, and aquatint on Fabriano Artistico
Suite of 8 prints; edition of 20
Plate sizes variable; paper size 14 × 9 in.
Published by Manneken Press
The Slip suite evolved from preliminary drawings made for Deese’s circular paintings Ripples and Waves, carved plywood forms modeled on radiating concentric waves. These early drawings—comprised of wavering lines mapping pitch and interval—served as the basis for a group of eight painted studies completed in December 1997, in which white wave lines traverse a deep chrome-green ground.
In the etchings, Deese retains the dynamic interplay of line and field while enriching the chromatic depth of the green through layered processes. Hardground, softground, and drypoint lines combine with aquatint passages to create subtly modulated surfaces. Each print in the suite is inked in chrome green and pulled from a single copper plate, resulting in a unified yet individually nuanced series.