Richard Hull [b: 1955; Oklahoma City, OK]
etching on paper
9 by 11 3/4 inches
Gift of Chase Bank
Collection of the Illinois State Museum
Richard Hull’s distinctive approach to creating pictures melds the surrealist strategy of automatic drawing with his unique program of abstract visual form. In this pair of prints from 1980, we see his characteristic architectonic approach to creating space — switchback planes of value and drawing that simultaneously affirm and deny any sense of depth. References to humans and other figures dance in and out of our consciousness.
Richard Hull [b: 1955; Oklahoma City, OK]
etching on paper
9 by 11 3/4 inches
Gift of Chase Bank
Collection of the Illinois State Museum
These two impressions from the same intaglio plate provide insight into the sort of technical experimentation which many artists who employ abstraction choose to explore. Hull first created Arf, a classic example of line etching. In the process of etching, a drawing is executed on a metal plate through an acid-resistant coating and the plate is placed in an acid bath. Once the acid has etched a distinct line, the plate is rinsed with water and the acid-resist is removed. The etched lines are then inked and the plate is sent through a press with paper over it, resulting in a image in which delicate black lines appear as if they have been drawn by a pen on a white sheet of paper.
Seeking to push his image further, Hull inked a rubber roller and then carefully passed the roller over the surface of the Arf plate. Ink was accepted only on the flat areas, not in the fine lines that had been etched. When printed, the image appears as a negative of itself with delicate white lines making up the composition against a black ground - Arf-Arf!