E.135 Coast 2006

• I. 1st state of 3

  

  Etching. A giant T-shaped bridge span stands at a construction site, amid pools of standing water and with the sea beyond. Underneath the span stands a tiny figure. In the right distance rises a mushroom-topped natural cloud. The cross-hatching is comparatively broadly spaced.

  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: ‘The Coast’: lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 06’.

• II. 2nd state of 3

  Much etched hatching has been applied to the concrete structure to give it greater bulk and volume. Fine, loose etching has been introduced behind the framework construction at the far left. The topmost rock at the lower left has been burnished. There are two variant impressions of this state.

  1. 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: ‘1-2’; lower centre: ‘The Coast’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 06’.
  2. Fractionally darker 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: ‘The Coast’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 06’. Although inscribed ‘1-3’, this is an impression of the second state.

• II.a. 2nd state of 3

  

  Much etched hatching has been applied to the concrete structure to give it greater bulk and volume. Fine, loose etching has been introduced behind the framework construction at the far left. The topmost rock at the lower left has been burnished. There are two variant impressions of this state.

• III. 3rd and final state

  Additional etched lines now model the cloud, and oblique lines have been added to the sky at the horizon. The pool of water at the far right has added reflection lines and, in the upper central band of sea, the protruding earth among the pools of water has been modelled with etched hatching. There are three variant impressions of this state.

  1. Selectively wiped impression with plate tone left on the etched areas, including the right horizon and cloud, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-4’; lower centre: ‘Coast’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 06’. Although inscribed ‘1-4’, this is an impression of the third and final state.
  2. Cleanly wiped impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2-4’; lower centre: ‘Coast’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 06’. Although inscribed ‘2-4’, this is an impression of the third and final state.
  3. Impression on wove paper, printed, and hand-coloured with watercolour, by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘H-C’; lower centre: ‘Coast’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 06’.

• III.b. 3rd and final state (Featured Image)

  

  Additional etched lines now model the cloud, and oblique lines have been added to the sky at the horizon. The pool of water at the far right has added reflection lines and, in the upper central band of sea, the protruding earth among the pools of water has been modelled with etched hatching. There are three variant impressions of this state.

• Edition, 2006

  Edition of ten numbered impressions, on wove Velin Arches paper, printed by Rosalind Atkins at the Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy (Melbourne), May 2006. The edition included a bon à tirer impression, an artist’s proof, two APW workshop proofs, an hors commerce impression, and one undesignated impression. Except for the undesignated impression, each impression is inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘[status of impression]’ [or] ‘[1 through 10]/10’; lower centre: ‘Coast’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 06’. Chop mark in lower right corner: ‘APW [within rectangle]’.

  The undesignated impression was printed with an even, faint film of plate tone, on wove paper, by Rosalind Atkins at the APW. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2’ [inscribed by Rosalind Atkins]; lower centre: ‘Coast’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 06’.

  Edition sheet size: 377 x 456 mm

• Comment

  The giant, unfinished bridge span seen at the left in this print belongs to Melbourne’s Bolte Bridge as it appeared during its construction (1996–99). The bridge crosses the Yarra River near Melbourne’s CBD, but here it has been relocated to an anonymous shore and looks more like a ruin than a structure in progress. The mushroom-shaped cloud on the horizon is not a fantastic invention but a depiction of an unusual cloud formation that Amor saw during an evening walk on St Kilda beach, and that he quickly sketched on the back of an envelope.

  The composition in E.135 occurs, with little change, in three other works from 2006: a charcoal drawing (Fry 2008), and an oil study and a painting (Niagara Galleries 2007). A span similar to that in the print is the subject of earlier works, such as the etching Unfinished span, 2004 (cat. no. E.132).

  The subject of E.135 was fully resolved in the first state but underwent considerable tonal refinements in the following two states.

  For a selection of works made by Amor on site during the building of the Bolte Bridge, see those in the collection of the State Library of Victoria: Bolte Bridge under construction, 1996, watercolour (H2009.82/27); Bolte Bridge under construction (south side of Yarra), 1998, watercolour (H2009.82/31); and Bridge under construction, lower Yarra, 1998, oil on canvas (H2009.82/14). These demonstrate how Amor’s plein-air works differ from his studio adaptations, such as the present etching.