E.130 Cloud 2004

• I. 1st state of 3

  

  Mezzotint. Landscape with a low horizon and vegetation in the distance, with a square pillar at left and a cypress at right. The ground is streaked with white areas that act as marks of perspectival recession, while also suggesting a muddy road. The vast sky is filled with huge clouds.

  Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-1’; lower centre: ‘Desolate Place’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 04’.

• II. 2nd state of 3

  The burnisher has been used to clarify and subtly expand the light areas, especially at the left of the composition.

  Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-2’; lower centre: ‘Desolate Place’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 04’.

• III. 3rd and final state

  Further burnishing in the clouds has sharpened the contrast between light and dark, thereby giving the clouds greater presence. The streakiness of the half lights on the ground in the lower right corner has been smoothed out. There are two, possibly three, variant impressions of this state.

  1. Cleanly wiped impression, on wove BFK Rives paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-3’; lower centre: ‘Desolate Place’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 04’.
  2. Selectively wiped impression on wove BFK Rives paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2-3’; lower centre: ‘Desolate Place’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 04’.
  3. Impression on wove BFK Rives paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-4’; lower centre: ‘Desolate Place’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 04’. Although inscribed ‘1-4’, this appears to be an impression of the third and final state.

• Edition, 2005

  Edition of ten numbered impressions, on wove Velin Arches paper, printed by Rosalind Atkins at the Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy (Melbourne), September 2005. The edition included a bon à tirer impression, an artist’s proof and two APW workshop proofs. Each impression is inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘[status of impression]’ [or] ‘[1 through 10]/10’; lower centre: ‘Cloud’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor ’05’. APW chop mark lower right corner: ‘APW [within rectangle]’.

  Edition sheet size: 280 x 380 mm

• Edition impression, 2005 (Featured Image)

  

  Further burnishing in the clouds has sharpened the contrast between light and dark, thereby giving the clouds greater presence. The streakiness of the half lights on the ground in the lower right corner has been smoothed out.

• Comment

  This mezzotint was made shortly after Amor had been diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), in February–March 2004, and is based on an oil painting by the artist. The cloud in the landscape is of a type often found in Amor’s art: a product of nature, but one that has the uncanny appearance of something with a life of its own – not simply a phenomenon resulting from atmospheric processes.

  Having taken the mezzotint to completion, through three (possibly four) states, Amor did not immediately edition it. The edition was printed in September 2005, after his successful bone marrow transplant in June of that year. At this stage the artist changed the title of the print, from Desolate place to Cloud. The old title was not entirely discarded but was used for the lithograph Desolate place, 2004, a work depicting an entirely different motif.

  In 2011 Amor returned to this subject in a watercolour, but reversed the composition (Liverpool Street Gallery 2011).