ARTIST: José Antonio Suárez Londoño
TITLE AND EDITION: Piedra Test, 2025, edition size 200 plus 1 Archive proof, 20 Artist Proofs, 10 Printer’s Proofs
DATE: 2025
MEDIUM: Lithograph printed in 2 colors on White Rives BFK 300 gsm
PAPER: 37 x 51 cm
PRINT DIMENSIONS: 30 x 40 cm
Printed at D&S Fine Art Editions in La Force, France.
Printed by Deborah Chaney and Stéphane Guilbaud
José Antonio Suárez Londoño and Deb Chaney first worked together at the Tamarind Institute during her second year apprenticeship 20 years ago, then a second and third time in NY at the Robert Blackburn studio and then at her own studio in Brooklyn, Deb Chaney Editions. Now, they have had the opportunity to create this litho for the Print Club of NY utilizing her and her husband’s studio in the south of France, D&S Fine Art Editions.
Making this lithograph meant coming up with an alternative way to work together given the geographic distance between Deb and José. José has primarily used the traditional method stone lithography, but he began by exploring a material he had not used before in his printmaking practice; drafting film or also called frosted mylar. This is a thin plastic film with a slight textured surface which allows one to draw with a variety of drawing materials.
Knowing his drawing style of hyper detailed line work using fine line pens and brushes with ink, Deb thought that the mylar would allow him to more comfortably create his work without the struggles of using more traditional drawing materials needed to drawing onto stone; not to mention its portability to be able to travel with.
Through email and WhatsApp, they collaborated by Deb explaining the technique and possibilities of mark making, and José sending images of the tests on mylar he was experimenting with. In the end, these tests would become the very image to become the presentation print for all the PCNY members.
Through his micro lenses he uses to draw, he labeled each and every type of drawing material used to make each mark. Each texture and pattern, each figure, animal, portrait, each geometric form, each piece of text, he labeled and wrote what it was drawn with, just in case something didn’t work out. Then he would know which material he could use or not use for the real drawing. But in fact, all the materials worked out beautifully, so this documentation or inventory of drawing materials became “Piedra Test” (… even though a “piedra” or “stone” was not used. )
This piece was printed in 2 colors using the process of photo lithography where the drawing on film is directly exposed onto a photo sensitive aluminum plate. The plate is then developed so the emulsion remains on the plate only where the drawing material blocked the light during exposure. The plate is then installed in the press, dampened with water and rolled up with ink, so that under pressure the inked image is transferred to a sheet of paper.
This edition was printed in the D&S editions studio in France using a 120 year old Voirin flat bed press. Each piece of paper is registered by hand, traveling around the cylinder so it comes directly in contact with the plate, transferring the ink, and is received and examined for quality on the other end.
This is an unconventional manner of working between artist and printer, but the product is an interesting merger of very old tech (lithography and drawing) with new tech (virtual communication through smart phones). Of course, nothing will replace the enjoyment and ease of in person collaboration, but the fact this was possible being thousands of miles and 6 hours time difference from one another is pretty remarkable.