E.106 Overpass 1996

• I. 1st state of 3

  Etching. View of an overpass that spans an area of unfinished road; in the foreground is builders’ rubble, in the midst of which stand two figures talking, behind a car. At the lower left is a concrete block from which emerge two metal trusses, forming a large V-shape. Beyond the overpass stands a tall Victorian building. A truck traverses the overpass from the right, its diesel chimney emitting smoke. To the left of the diesel chimney is a light pole. To the left of this is a truck’s exhaust pipe, thin and with an angled spout; it too releases smoke. The unmade road curves into the lower right corner. Foul biting is evident in many areas, especially in the lower part of the image and in the sky. There are two variant impressions of this state.

  1. Cleanly wiped impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1 [circled]’; lower centre: ‘Overpass’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 96’.
  2. Impression with plate tone, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP II/V’; lower centre: ‘Overpass’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 96’.

• I.a. 1st state of 3

  

  Etching. View of an overpass that spans an area of unfinished road; in the foreground is builders’ rubble, in the midst of which stand two figures talking, behind a car. At the lower left is a concrete block from which emerge two metal trusses, forming a large V-shape. Beyond the overpass stands a tall Victorian building. A truck traverses the overpass from the right, its diesel chimney emitting smoke. To the left of the diesel chimney is a light pole. To the left of this is a truck’s exhaust pipe, thin and with an angled spout; it too releases smoke. The unmade road curves into the lower right corner. Foul biting is evident in many areas, especially in the lower part of the image and in the sky. There are two variant impressions of this state.

• II. 2nd state of 3

  The angled, smoking spout of the thin exhaust pipe has been burnished away and the pipe now continues to the edge of the upper plate mark. The broken contour of the light pole to the right of the exhaust pipe is now continuous. The truck’s V-shaped aerial has also been completed.

  Dark impression with much plate tone, on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP I/V’; lower centre: ‘Overpass’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 96’.

• III. 3rd and final state

  The horizontally ridged tanks below the bridge have been burnished, so that they now appear more rounded; burnishing has also been applied to the middle band of the overpass. There are five variant impressions of this state.

  1. Cleanly wiped impression on wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP III/V’; lower centre: ‘Overpass’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 96’. (Featured Image)
  2. Impression on wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP IV/V’; lower centre: ‘Overpass’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 96’.
  3. Dark impression with plate tone, on wove BFK Rives paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP V/V’; lower centre: ‘Overpass’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 96’.
  4. Impression with plate tone, on wove BFK Rives paper with watermark, printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP VI’; lower centre: ‘Overpass’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 96’.
  5. 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: ‘AP VII’; lower centre: ‘Overpass’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 96’.

• III.a. Artist’s proof of 3rd and final state (Featured Image)

  

  The horizontally ridged tanks below the bridge have been burnished, so that they now appear more rounded; burnishing has also been applied to the middle band of the overpass. There are five variant impressions of this state.

• Edition, 1996

  Nominal edition of ten, but only four impressions were printed and numbered. These are on wove paper and were printed by Rick Amor in his Alphington studio. Each impression is inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘[status of impression]’ [or] ‘[1 through 4]/10’; lower centre: ‘Overpass’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 96’.

  Edition sheet size: 380 × 432 mm

• Comment

  This etching belongs to a group of closely related works dating from 1995 to 1998. The earliest of these is a watercolour painted in August 1995, Study for ‘Overpass’ (Niagara Galleries 1996), which differs from the etching in depicting in the distance not a nineteenth-century facade but a flat-topped building. The change to the building in the background was initiated in an oil, Study for ‘Overpass’, 1995 (Niagara Galleries 1996), in which the facade is based on that of the old Victoria Brewery, East Melbourne (built 1882). E.106 closely follows the painted study and is oriented in the same direction.

  The print was essentially completed in its first state, although the removal of the angled, smoking spout, which was burnished away in the second state, was a small but important change. The third and final state saw refinements of tone. The existence of five variant impressions of this state testifies to Amor’s ongoing interest in experimenting with plate tone and he continued to do this when printing the edition impressions.