This freezes them, suspended and floating; rather like museum exhibits or preserved scientific specimens ready for closer study.
I then photograph the sculptures and digitally manipulate the images before outputting to film. This enables me to expose a light-sensitive etching plate (photo-etching) to create an intaglio print on extremely fine, hand-made Japanese paper.
The final etching is also very delicate and fragile so, as the final step, I encase and preserve the etching in clear resin so that the print, like my sculptures, becomes frozen in time and permanently available to view.
I love combining modern digital techniques, traditional etching and sculpture in order to push the boundaries of printmaking.
I am fascinated by the imprint or ‘emotional charge’ which prolonged and
close human interaction seems to leave on an object.
We generally see this simply as patina or wear so, through multiple processes, I strive to tease it out, separate it from the object itself and distil it. Only then can I preserve it for closer study.
I begin by constructing paper sculptures of the object using materials which themselves have had a close human interaction and hopefully carry something of that ‘emotional charge’. These can include closely scrutinised engineer’s drawings or dress patterns, a writers well-thumbed draft carrying all their notes in the margins or even a lovingly curated child’s stamp collection. Highly personal items like letters or photographs can also be a source of ‘ready charged’ raw material.
Once completed, the paper sculptures are very fragile and delicate structures so I cast them in clear resin.
Kirsten Baskett is a contemporary artist based in London. She received an MA in printmaking from Camberwell College in 2012.
She engages with digital technology based on an understanding of traditional methods rather than regarding them as an out-dated medium.
2021 RA Summer Exhibition
2019 Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair
2019 RA Summer Exhibition
2019 Goodwood Chichester
2018 Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair
2018 Talented Art Fair, London
2017 Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair
2017 Wells Art Contemporary, Group Show
2017 Nude Tin Gallery.
2017 D Contemporary Gallery, Group Show, Mayfair, London
2017 Flux, Chelsea
2017 RA Summer Exhibition
2017 Judge Member of 'It's Art call
2016 ' It's Art Call' Solo Show Winner, The Cult House, D Contemporary Gallery, Mayfair, London
2016 Curio: Sites of Wonder, Studio 3, Canterbury
2016 Tomorrow's Child, Houses of Parliament, Westminster 6-10 June
2016 45 Park Lane - Mayfair London
2015 The Other Art Fair- London
2015 A. Nonymous, London
2015 Shortlisted Beers Contemporary
2015 Shortlisted Aesthetica
2014 Wells Art Contemporary- Winner
2014 Print Jam- Runner up
2014 The Scars Are Not Only Skin Deep, The Cob Gallery, London
2014 Loop, Bankside Gallery, London
2014 Bainbridge, Embassy Tea Rooms, London
2014 AAF Hampstead
2014 AAF Battersea
2013 Solo Exhibition current- Lilford Gallery
2013 Pushing Print Festival, The Pie Factory, Margate
2013 Loop, The Gallery, Redchurch Street, London
2013 Freedom of the Press, Old Naval College, Greenwich
2013 Works on Paper, The Brick Lane Gallery, London
2013 Hot off the Press, Curwen Gallery, Margate
2012 Pushing Print Festival, The Pie Factory, Margate
2012 Printmaking Now, Tokyo University Gallery, Japan
2011 Protest Prints, Camberwell Art College, London