Richard Tetrault: Woodcuts

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Richard Tetrault, "Night Market #1," 2019

relief, edition of 19, 43 x 66cm

Richard Tetrault: Woodcuts

Richard Tetrault's work pursues a subtext of narratives derived from decades of living in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. His original woodcut prints incorporate superimposed layers suggesting the passage of time and transience.

"From the long tradition of woodcut’s origins in China and Japan to the German Expressionists and up to the present, relief printmaking offers a unique expression. Expanding upon traditional methods has been an underlying impulse in my work. I am attracted to large-scale, often roughly hewn images incorporating multiblock methods for colour printing. I find the possibilities are limitless. The markings of a chisel cut are an equivalent to a sculptor’s tool or a brush, yet, the marks of a woodcutting chisel are a fusion of both. They enliven and energize the image itself, while reflecting the physicality involved in the process of cutting.

In colour printing, I incorporate different approaches. For reduction printing, I use one block for all the colours, carving away and repeatedly printing overlays of colour until the ultimate print in pulled. Jigsaw method involves using either jig-sawed wood or other substrates, cut out to form the colour blocks. This is overprinted with one or two key blocks. Recently, I have used this approach with collagraph materials: cut out board, cardboard, scrap wood, and other elements. My prints focus primarily on the shifting dynamics of the industrial landscape. I pursue a subtext of narratives derived from decades of living in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. My recent prints incorporate superimposed layers suggesting the passage of time and transience. Crows are a recurring motif, making appearances in many of my series.

My prints have been exhibited in group and solo shows from Japan and China to Poland, Mexico, and Cuba. I have taught classes in woodcut and other relief mediums at Malaspina Printmakers for many years. My studio is in Strathcona, East Vancouver." - Richard Tetrault