Robert Harper
Printmaker
I was introduced to printmaking in college under the direction of Fritz Janschka, an Austrian artist and founding member of Fantastic Realism. At the same time I studied painting and collage with Miriam Schapiro, a leader in the Pattern and Decoration movement. This early educational experience inspired a lifetime of creating content in overlapping layers: as an editorial cartoonist, TV journalist, educational publisher and product developer. My professional life has been dominated by digital art and media where building layers of meaning is done on a computer screen.
Meanwhile, my artwork has focused on a more tactile screen: silkscreen. I am captivated by pushing ink through a screen and then another and another, layer after layer, to build an image with meaning. I love the immediacy of it, the vibrancy of acrylic ink colors, the versatility of techniques. I also like the silkscreen process because it’s environmentally friendly and without dangerous chemicals.
Rather than produce large print runs of the same image, I prefer experimenting with different colors, papers and techniques to push each artwork in new directions. As shown in lower left corner of my prints (2/4 = second print of four, 3/6 = third print of six), most of my print runs are less than ten and often just one (1/1), a unique mono-print.
I’ve been coming to the Adirondacks in the summer most of my life. The beauty and community of the Adirondacks have impacted my world view in so many ways. It is reflected in my prints whether the subject is an Adirondack scene or something entirely different. I hope you see it and enjoy it as much as I do.