E.123 Lorimer St 2001

• I. 1st state of 2

  Etching. A view looking across marshland and shallow pools of water towards the West Gate Bridge, whose left pylon is reflected in the muddy waters. The bridge, upon which heavy traffic travels, is silhouetted against a darkened, cloudy sky. A series of electrical poles recede from the right middle ground into the far distance. Silhouetted against the horizon in the left background are factories, two of which emit belching smoke. The etching is highly resolved in this the first state. There are four variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression with light plate tone, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-1’; lower centre: ‘Lorimer St’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 01’. The plate tone is visible especially at the margins of the plate, and there has been selective wiping in the pools of water and in the sky visible between the clouds.
  2. Cleanly wiped impression with light plate tone in the uppermost clouds, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2-1’; lower centre: ‘Lorimer St’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 01’.
  3. Dark, selectively wiped impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘3-1’; lower centre: ‘Lorimer St’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 01’. This impression has been selectively wiped in the central pool of water and in the sky visible between the clouds.
  4. Cleanly wiped impression with very light plate tone, on wove paper (different from the paper used for I.a through I.c), printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘4-1’; lower centre: ‘Lorimer St’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 01’.

• II. 2nd and final state (Featured Image)

  

  The patch of light immediately to the right of the belching chimneys in the central distance has been lightly burnished; burnishing has also been applied to the sky at the lower left.

  Cleanly wiped impression with faint plate tone, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-2’; lower centre: ‘Lorimer St’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 01’.

• Edition, 2001

  Edition of ten numbered impressions, on wove Magnani Acqueforti paper, printed by Martin King at the Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy (Melbourne), July 2001. 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: ‘Lorimer St’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’01’. Chop mark in lower right corner: ‘APW [within rectangle]’.

  Edition sheet size: 190 x 265 mm

• Comment

  This view of the West Gate Bridge, depicted from Lorimer Street, is based on Amor’s plein-air oil painting Lorimer Street, Port Melbourne, 1998 (State Library of Victoria, Melbourne). The translation of the painting – which is finished in the subdued, heavy greys and green-browns of an overcast twilight – into black and white increases the melancholic dimension of the subject. Amor has commented on the dark tenor of the etching, saying that, for him, the cars going over the bridge were like souls on the road to Purgatory.

  There was very little change to the plate between the two states of the print; however, differences in atmosphere and mood can be seen across the various state impressions, which show Amor experimenting with the effects of subtle inking and wiping.