Artwork description:

Very limited edition of 5 prints on Archival Canson Paper. Only one Artist Proof available now (as good as the edition prints).
Hand-drawn, hand-carved, hand-printed
....................................

THE STORY

I happen to drive past this lane in my Calcutta neighbourhood very frequently, my eyes always pausing to hold on to it, trying to take in all of its quiet mystery, feeling a recurrent urge to stop my car and get physically closer to it. But perhaps I wanted to savour this mystery itself, and so never stopped to walk down inside it. This woodcut is my attempt to forever capture its quaint charm and curious appeal.

Some elements that I'd like to highlight, which particularly draw me towards this lane (although I do believe here that the whole is certainly greater than the sum of its parts!) are the green French-style shutter windows and the red house (known in Bengali as the quintessential 'laal bari'), typical features of colonial Calcutta; the hand-pulled rickshaw, a ubiquitous symbol of this city; the image of crows sitting on electrical wires (also a common sight); and the hint of a man with an umbrella walking down, his shadow more visible than him.

THE PROCESS

A long, fulfilling labour of love, this woodcut has been created out of four blocks, using the reduction method, which means more than one colour has been printed from a single block, with the process of wood-carving separating each stage. I have also used the stencil process in a couple of places.

Materials used:

Ink

Tags:

#art prints uk #woodcut art #calcutta rickshaw #red #wall art #street art #limited edition #architectural #limited edition print #fine art print #old city #original print #art prints #woodcut #indian #indian art #red house #woodcut print #original printmaking #bengal #wood block print #india art #colonial architecture #rickshaw #wood cut prints