MAKING
REPLICA PRINTS
Each image is printed on acid-free paper in one of three methods: linoleum block prints, serigraphs (screen prints from hand-cut stencils), or digital images. Every print is labeled with its source, method, and date of issue. The entire collection is probably the world’s largest display of Renaissance (replica) prints. Shown is Allen printing The Fool, a serigraph.
Medieval and Renaissance prints were carved in wood, inked with ink balls, and squeezed in a press. Often the wood blocks were not made with enough white space between the lines to prevent ink from clogging, and some lines were carved too thin to withstand the rigors of the printing process. The pressing forced ink into the white spaces, squeezing ink off the raised lines. Debris created more imperfections, when tiny pieces of paper or even bugs got into the sticky ink. Shown is Allen printing The Canterbury Tales, a lino.
THE FOUR HORSEMEN
Allen's newest work has been to re-create what some Renaissance drawings might have looked like before they were carved and printed. Recently, images such as Durer's "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" have been meticulously and extensively re-made.
Each line and the space between each line have been drawn with Allen's fingertips on the touch pad of his laptop. Using this methodical method, "The Four Horsemen" took three months to restore, and Allen has printed it in high resolution on acid-free paper with archival ink. The result pays homage to Durer's masterpiece in a clarity never before seen. For Allen, this work is “re-creation”!