{"id":541,"date":"2010-08-04T23:21:44","date_gmt":"2010-08-05T05:21:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15bytes12\/2010\/08\/04\/erik-waterkotte\/"},"modified":"2018-12-10T18:23:50","modified_gmt":"2018-12-11T00:23:50","slug":"erik-waterkotte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/erik-waterkotte\/","title":{"rendered":"Laying It On Erik Waterkotte’s many-layered printmaking"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Perhaps it\u2019s my fascination with layering paint that attracted me to the printmaking work of Erik Waterkotte, a recent printmaker-in-residence at\u00a0Saltgrass Printmakers<\/a>. With a lecture at the Salt Lake Art Center, and a class at Saltgrass, as well as an opening reception for his exhibition there, I had multiple opportunities to see and learn about his process. For one who knows almost nothing about printmaking, I needed all this, plus some tutoring by other printmakers on the side, to get ready to write. Thus, I\u2019m writing as a printmaking novice, from the perspective of a painter, looking at layering as part of an artist\u2019s process to create meaning for the viewer. A true printmaking \u201chow-to\u201d can only be achieved hands-on at Saltgrass.<\/p>\n

Waterkotte\u2019s\u00a0web site gallery\u00a0<\/a>is a good introduction to his surreal world view. His various series of works are characterized by dichotomies \u2013 destruction and utopia, idealism and depravity, romanticism and disaster. These dichotomies are revealed through his juxtaposition of disparate images, which, even in the flattened view on a computer screen, creates an amazing depth of field — achieved in part through his process of layering. Waterkotte\u2019s layers are not simply multiple runs through the press, but often prints on different thin Japanese papers, which are sandwiched together, sometimes with the addition of collage in the final layer.<\/p>\n

Waterkotte\u2019s inspiration comes from a variety of sources: poetry, music, images in the newspaper or comic books, or on the covers of old record albums or science fiction books. His process starts with a collage of images, which he scans into his computer and manipulates into a composition that will become a printed layer. He uses a variety of printing processes, including etching, relief, chine colle, and silkscreen. Having studied painting, he enjoys working intuitively, spontaneously responding to the previous layer with an image and process that works with the narrative he\u2019s building.<\/p>\n

An art instructor once told me that the highest compliment an artist can receive is from fellow artists wondering, \u201cHow did you do that?\u201d Waterkotte’s print, especially seen up close, where the layers of ink on translucent paper produces an almost 3-D effect, elicit just that question.<\/p>\n