The Mechanical Hand: King's Place Gallery, King's Place, London

Hand crafted yet mechanically made, the printed image is often both central to many artists practice, while percieved to be outside of mainstream artistic discourse because of its  reproductive, multiple nature; use of process to create its visual language, and percieved need for the acquisition of artisan skills. 

As the history of artists print shows, whenever a new process of reproduction has appeared, so the artist has followed. From the woodcut through to the computer generated print, each new technology has at one and the same time been a method of mass communication and of artistic expression. With the development of the artists print and its technologies being so interrelated, so the distinctions and boundarys between art and craft become increasingly blurred, if not redundant. 

This book explores how working within the ‘collaborative’ studio environment can develop not only an understanding of how materials & process are used make an image, but also how the ‘democratic mobility’ of the multiple can function within a culture obsessed with the genuine, authentic and original.

Founded during the figurative, narrative generation of the 1980’s the studios projects reflect the development and diversity of artistic practice we see today.

Projects include work by:

Damien Hirst, Paula Rego, Rachel Whiteread, Cornellia Parker, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Tony Bevan, Grayson Perry, Glenn Brown, Mat Collishaw, Chris Ofili, Rosie Snell, Stephen Chambers, Hughie O'Donoghue, Elizabeth Magill, Sue Webster & Tim Noble, Keith Coventry,  Jock McFadyen, Andrejz Jackowski & Catharine Yass.