ANTIDOTE

Toward the end of 2022 I was introduced to the risograph printing method though Risolana community art facility. Risograph possesses characteristics of offset and screen print. While an offset print uses an etched metal plate wrapped around a roller to apply ink, risograph uses a rice paper stencil called a master which is wrapped around an ink drum. Unlike the limited CMYK color palette of digital printing, offset and riso printing offer a wide selection of vibrant pre-made colors that can be mixed to create a much larger spectrum. As in screen print, the riso printer applies one (or sometimes two) colors at a time. Minor changes in paper loading results in the same subtle registration “errors” associated with the screen print aesthetic. 2023 I am adopting risograph into my production methods as an additional means to maintain equitable collectability.

I released Antidote in 2020 during the global spread of Corona virus. A chaotic composition parallel to the wave of overlapping and contradictory infor­mation. Individuals collaged fragment­ed alternating facts in pursuit of sol­utions. In retro­spect, the antidote was not a one-size-fits-all shared be­havior, but rather an accumulation of co­incidental decisions guided by creativity and grounded in compromise. No one antidote is the same as the next, and the efficacy of each is yet to be determined.

Antidote loop composed in Blender

Creative compromise is the foundation of manual printmaking. Line, color, and quantity possess value in time and re­source. The graphic nature is a result of defining what has meaning and leaving all else aside. What to carry when the world falls apart?

Things Come Apart 2.0 by Todd McLellan

Possessions are heavy, ideology is weightless. The antidote can be seen as either an object or a method. The object is consumed; the method is practiced. The tangible antidote promises all will be solved after its consumption. But as new variants emerge the tangible antidote loses potency. The race for a new elixir ensues and the process repeats. The chaos of Antidote expresses an addiction to the tangible.

As a method, the antidote represents an ongoing behavior. There is no end-product and no solution. Progress is a subtle side effect of emergent action bringing together new combinations and capabilities. Each participant moves in accordance with the unique obstacles present in their environment. Overlapping methodology creates the Antidote spectrum.