Epithelium

by Paul Morrison, 2006

A single screenprint.
Edition of 45. Signed by the artist with his initials and numbered on the reverse.

  • Epithelium131.7 x 98.8 cm (51 7/8 x 38 7/8 in)

Shortly after Calathidium, another single large-scale screenprint was published in 2006. Its title, Epithelium, refers to tissue covering the exterior and interior surface of the human body made up of cells closely packed and arranged in dense layers. This seems a fitting title for a print, which in itself is one of the most compact works by Morrison to date. Here, for the first time, Morrison includes a human figure and an animal. Almost hidden in a mazy and wiry mesh of copse, a horseman is trapped like Sleeping Beauty behind this densely laboured entanglement. Morrison has pieced the equestrian together by superimposing a self-portrait by Rembrandt on a cavalier taken from a Renaissance woodcut. It is a nice tribute from one printmaker to another – and a prolific one –that Morrison has chosen Rembrandt to introduce a completely new aspect into his work. Since Epithelium, human figures and animals have more and more frequently featured.

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