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In late 2011 I began
work on a four plate wood block print of a single speed fixed wheel
bicycle in 12" x 12" format using a small steel press given to me by
Stephen Niles. Our band Alice Neel had written and recorded a song
called fixie love.
The
fixie print was intended to become the cover of a 12" vinyl dance mix.
Throughout 2012 I kept making prints based on the 12" square.
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100 prints lying on the floor at the Ahaa School for the arts in July 2012
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| installation at the Ahaa School July 2012 |
Jamie Hamilton, assistant professor of contemporary art history
and theory at the University of Hawaii:
"These 100
variations of the 12x12 inch format of the woodblock print
offer startling perceptual shifts of color, text, geometric patterns, and natural
forms. While all of the prints play off repeated forms,
and abstracted shapes modified as
Runge’s process unfolded, some prints feel completely unique, lending insight
to the way creativity arises in the dedication to reflecting on the simplest
aspects of life.
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| studio with press |
Throughout 2012 Dieter Runge produced more than 200 of these
wood block prints on a small printing press in his studio. To let the creative process unfold,
Runge set no restrictions on contents or style, but worked improvisationally
and with a fluid method of incorporating repeated motifs of the forms that surround
him as he worked. The resulting prints range from monochromatic squares or
circles to phrases, to the incorporation of any object in his studio or garden
that could be put in between the block and the paper. Often working on several
prints and color variations at a time and incorporating ghost prints, Runge’s
forms build and respond to each other.
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| 6 12" |
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| in studio with guitar |
The idea of geometric and natural variation runs throughout
the recent history of abstraction in printmaking– from Elsworth Kelly’s
non-compositional method to Jennifer Bartlett’s formal minimal systems. Runge’s background as musician, his
interest in meditation, as well as his commitment to the history of woodblock
prints, lends his series a bold, luscious and fresh attitude, all at the same
time. The format of each print is
a reference to the 12” vinyl record cover. Their visual impact is based as much
on the rock’n roll riff as the zen mantra."
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| taro leafs |
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| Talbot's Cafe San Francisco 2013 |
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| Talbot's Cafe San Francisco 2013 |
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| 2 12" in black frame |
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| 3 prints individually framed by client |
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