ARTIST: James Siena
TITLE AND EDITION: Reseda I, 2023-24, edition size 200 plus 1 Archive Impression, 1 BAT, 1 ATP, 3 HC, 25 Artist Proofs, 10 Printers Proofs and 2 Showing Proofs (unsigned)
DATE: 2023/24
MEDIUM: 2 color lithograph printed from 2 aluminum plates on Magnani Pescia paper, 300gsm
PAPER: 15 3/8 x 13 1/8 inches
PRINT DIMENSIONS: 10 1/8 x 8 inches
Printed at PS Marlowe Studios, Asheville, NC
Printer by Phil Sanders & Lindsey Sigmon
James Siena started Reseda I by making two separate drawings on mylar of reverberating lines, each coming from a different direction. When these drawings were superimposed directly on top of one another they created an interlocking pattern. Siena placed a new blank sheet of mylar on top of this configuration and began to draw the spaces between the intersecting lines. This new drawing formed the line structure seen in the final print. Once this drawing was complete, another piece of mylar was laid on top where Siena used a thinned red watercolor paint to produce the washes that filled in these shapes. This was a slow and precise process, allowing the evaporating water to create the details of the washes.
Once the washes dried, color testing began. In total there were 10 different color combinations tested before settling on the two versions represented by Reseda I and Reseda II. There was a specific relationship or harmony between the line and the wash that Siena was seeking. Neither was to dominate or overpower the other. Siena wanted the work to feel and read in a unified way from a distance while opening up when approached and viewed closely. The color was key to this working in the right way.
James Siena and Phil Sanders have been working on prints with one another for 20 years. In total they have collaborated on 14 lithographs and more than 25 intricate and embossed watercolor monotypes. Reseda I marked the beginning of a shift in Siena’s work towards a more organic way of creating compositions which in turn generated a series of larger lithographs printed by Sanders and published under his imprint PS Marlowe.
For an artist there are often a collection of beginnings to ideas or visual solutions that manifest themselves down the road in new works. Printmaking has allowed Siena to experiment in ways that are difficult to do in any other media. This willingness to explore has resulted in prints being a major evolutionary driver of Siena’s paintings and drawings. Reseda I is one of those small beginnings.