2022, drypoint etching

Paper size: 74 cm x 56 cm

Plate size: 47 cm x 35 cm

Image courtesy of the artist

This work is part of 'sudo technical | sudo creative' – a series exploring creative coding, computer driven tools, e-waste materials and printmaking processes.

Take one digital photograph, apply code to generate vector lines, remove plastic from a broken LED TV screen, scribe lines with a stylus driven by a computer controlled plotter, apply ink + paper + pressure.

The plastic matrix – one of many layers of material between a digital display's pixels and the viewer – has tiny linear prisms manuctured into the surface to focus light outwards. The channels these create readily hold ink and create a barely wipeable plate tone. Once printed this tone produces a pattern that mimics the scanlines of now defunct CRT displays. The channels also interfere with the ability of the machine driving the scribe to accurately reproduce the curves of the linework.

Repurposing the constituents of our contemporary digital technologies revealed some rich veins for further exploration.

Jimmy has just completed a postgraudate certificate in visual arts. That was a shock to his system after decades in digital design, web development and digital product ownership (that's a job title not owning lots of devices beginning with 'i' – though he ticks that box too). He sought some escape from The Digital™ in the printmaking studio several years ago. That lasted all of a week before he began rolling computers, drawing machines, 3D printers and AI into the mix. Constantly hassled for having the cleanest apron in the studio he takes some solace in having the inkiest laptop.