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Brainscape 23

Print
2006 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Susan Aldworth worked as artist-in-residence at the Royal London Hospital alongside consultant neuroradiologist Paul Butler in 2001-2 and again in 2005-6. Watching a series of neuroradiological operations she began to investigate the problem of consciousness, first in a series of drawings and watercolours and subsequently in an ongoing series of etchings. There is an element of the medical illustration to the prints but the purely organic and physical is melded with overtones of the lyrical and spiritual. Working with artist and printer Nigel Oxley (who worked for many years at Kelpra Studio) Aldworth experimented with the media to find a way of describing the relationship between the physical brain and the mind. Oxley's experience and technical expertise enabled her to work on a large scale, and to produce a negative, or white, line (through the chance discovery that a line drawn on the etching plate in permanent marker acted as a resist). This gave an unprecedented fluency to the etchings. Aldworth and Oxley also allowed the unpredictable effects of their materials to produce serendipitous effects, producing a fluid organic imagery.

The resulting prints read like maps of brain activity and consciousness, and seem in some way to describe or embody the imagination. This print utilises a rich blue pigment, evocative of scientific illustrations (such as botanical cyanotypes) and blueprints; the colour is also associated with the spiritual and with the imagination, and ideas of the unexpected ('it came out of the blue').

This print complements Aldworth's earlier etching from the related series, Birth of a Thought 1, also in the collection (see E.2547-2007).


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleBrainscape 23 (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Etching on paper
Brief description
Print. Etching. Susan Aldworth. Brainscape 23, 2006, UK.
Physical description
Abstract imagery inspired by brain scan printed in blue on white.
Dimensions
  • Sheet height: 57cm
  • Sheet width: 38.2cm
  • Plate height: 29.4cm
  • Plate width: 24.6cm
Copy number
2/70
Marks and inscriptions
2/70 Brainscape 23 Susan Aldworth 2006 (Edition number, title, signature, date; all in pencil)
Credit line
Given by the artist
Subject depicted
Summary
Susan Aldworth worked as artist-in-residence at the Royal London Hospital alongside consultant neuroradiologist Paul Butler in 2001-2 and again in 2005-6. Watching a series of neuroradiological operations she began to investigate the problem of consciousness, first in a series of drawings and watercolours and subsequently in an ongoing series of etchings. There is an element of the medical illustration to the prints but the purely organic and physical is melded with overtones of the lyrical and spiritual. Working with artist and printer Nigel Oxley (who worked for many years at Kelpra Studio) Aldworth experimented with the media to find a way of describing the relationship between the physical brain and the mind. Oxley's experience and technical expertise enabled her to work on a large scale, and to produce a negative, or white, line (through the chance discovery that a line drawn on the etching plate in permanent marker acted as a resist). This gave an unprecedented fluency to the etchings. Aldworth and Oxley also allowed the unpredictable effects of their materials to produce serendipitous effects, producing a fluid organic imagery.

The resulting prints read like maps of brain activity and consciousness, and seem in some way to describe or embody the imagination. This print utilises a rich blue pigment, evocative of scientific illustrations (such as botanical cyanotypes) and blueprints; the colour is also associated with the spiritual and with the imagination, and ideas of the unexpected ('it came out of the blue').

This print complements Aldworth's earlier etching from the related series, Birth of a Thought 1, also in the collection (see E.2547-2007).
Collection
Accession number
E.593-2009

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Record createdNovember 25, 2009
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