Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level E , Case MP, Shelf 250

Night Sky

Print
2002 (printed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This image by Paul Coldwell, Night Sky, is a digital print. It is from the artist's Constellations series of eight digital prints made in 2002 for his exhibition at the London Print Studio. The imagery was derived from interiors, and from groups of Coldwell's recent sculptures. Coldwell explained that the series explored 'that sense of being in two places, a place of the body and a place of the mind'.

Those two spaces are layered in this image. A still life consisting of everyday objects - a shoe, a picture frame, an iron, toilet cleaner, a kettle, bottles and vases - is printed with black dots, left by the inkjet machine used to produce this screenprint. White dots on the pixelated surface form constellations, which are marked up as Leo, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. The mundane objects in the background represent the familiar world, whereas the stars are an unknown space, far removed from the practical reality of ironing and boiling a kettle. The mind escapes the physical environment, reaching far corners of the universe.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • Night Sky (assigned by artist)
  • Constellations (series title)
Materials and techniques
Colour inkjet print on paper
Brief description
'Night Sky' colour inkjet print, from the 'Constellation Series' by Paul Coldwell, UK, 2002
Physical description
Digital colour inkjet print on Hahnemuhle 300gsm paper showing a still life with everyday objects such as an iron, shoe, picture frame, kettle and so on, with white dots printed on it, forming a constellation. Size of sheet 52.8cm x 61cm, size of image 34 cm x 45.1. Signed in pencil, 'P. Coldwell'. Numbered in pencil, '3/7'.

The 'Constellation' series of 8 prints contrasts images of the physical and the familiar with projections of the night sky and the unknown. 'Night Sky' derives from a photograph of a still life, with some of the dots of the highly pixilated image surface enlarged, and then joined together in the manner of a constellation diagram. The words 'Leo' and 'Ursa Minor' appear.
Dimensions
  • Sheet height: 52.8cm
  • Sheet width: 61cm
  • Image height: 34cm
  • Image width: 45.1cm
Copy number
3/7
Marks and inscriptions
'LEO URSA MAJOR URSA MINOR P. Coldwell / '3/7'. (signed; pencil)
Credit line
Purchased through the Julie and Robert Breckman Print Fund
Subjects depicted
Summary
This image by Paul Coldwell, Night Sky, is a digital print. It is from the artist's Constellations series of eight digital prints made in 2002 for his exhibition at the London Print Studio. The imagery was derived from interiors, and from groups of Coldwell's recent sculptures. Coldwell explained that the series explored 'that sense of being in two places, a place of the body and a place of the mind'.

Those two spaces are layered in this image. A still life consisting of everyday objects - a shoe, a picture frame, an iron, toilet cleaner, a kettle, bottles and vases - is printed with black dots, left by the inkjet machine used to produce this screenprint. White dots on the pixelated surface form constellations, which are marked up as Leo, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. The mundane objects in the background represent the familiar world, whereas the stars are an unknown space, far removed from the practical reality of ironing and boiling a kettle. The mind escapes the physical environment, reaching far corners of the universe.
Associated object
Collection
Accession number
E.164-2003

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Record createdJune 4, 2003
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