Contemporary British Printmakers...

Over the past year or so we have been keeping an eye out for British printmakers who create contemporary works that sit well amongst our antiquarian material. This has drawn us towards a small collection of artists who hold the craft of printmaking close to their hearts and employ visual techniques that have been used in print for centuries, such as John Dilnot's interpretation of the classic entomology print:

Beetles
Screenprint
2006
Image 290 x 200 mm, Sheet 370 x 280 mm
Edition of 200.

Despite John's interest in printmaking, his work is led by ideas rather than process, in particular the human relationship with nature. A childhood spent playing and rooting about in his grandparent's large Kent garden left a lasting impression and remains the source of many ideas and work, such as the box 'Bad Apples' and the books 'Weeds and Pests' and 'With the Worms'.

Dilnot studied graphic Design at Canterbury College of Art, followed by Fine Art at Camberwell School of Art in the early 1980's. John focused on screen printing, exploring sequential imagery, which led to his first artists' books. He also made boxes at this time, which featured in his degree show installation. John's box works have since become very collectable.


The diverse work of James Brown spans subjects from space to hats but his series of shop front prints are proving popular and can be viewed as a contemporary take on the famous High Street series by Eric Ravilious:

Chandlery
A two colour screen print on off-white 270gsm paper.  
2012
Sheet 300 x 420 mm.  
From an edition of100, signed and dated by James Brown.

James Brown is an illustrator and printmaker living and working in London. Trained as a textile and surface print designer, James worked in the clothing industry for 10 years producing print designs for numerous fashion brands from Levis to Louis Vuitton. After two years at Hope & Glory menswear James embarked on a new career as an illustrator in 2007.

James has been commissioned to produce work by publishing houses, magazines and newspapers and advertising and design agencies. Recent clients include GQ, Random House, The Guardian and The Poetry Society .

Alongside his commercial practice James produces limited edition screen prints and linocuts. James' prints reflect his interest in the printed and typographic ephemera of pop culture. The traditional processes that go into the production of James' prints are very important.


Other artists that we have taken on-board include, Tom Frost, Chase and Wonder,  Kay Vincent and most recently Emma Lee Cheng