Linoprinting, taking inspiration from Bill Fick

I spent a term creating linoprints of skulls for part of my art GCSE. Taking inspiration from Otto Dix's sombre images, Damien Hirst's desensitisation of skulls and Bill Fick's printing technique, I produced a lino cut, which I printed in black, white, gold and silver:

During this project, I became particularly interested in Bill Fick. Although not as well known as others in his field, he produces what are, in my opinion. the most quirky, creative, and interesting linoprints I have come across. A lot of his work can be seen on his blog, http://billfick.com/.

I was particularly drawn to his skull prints, for example:

Perhaps I was immediately drawn to this piece by the subject matter: a skull, or perhaps it was the skull's hypnotic eyes that drew me in. The patterns Fick uses create tone and texture in an interesting and unique style while the direction of his cut show shape and 3-dimensionality. The simplicity of the lino, in its monotone and harsh outline, combined with the detail of the pattern create an interesting print, and I think that is what makes Fick's prints so interesting. I tried to include aspects of this in my own work, for example the directional swirl in my skull's forehead and the pattern around the teeth.

Skulls in art

Throughout history, images and representations of skulls and skeletons have been seen in art all across the world. In the earlier half of the 20th century, artists used skulls and as a powerful and shocking symbol of death.

It seems that now in contemporary art, skeletons have become “trendy” and their abundance in modern art has led to skulls having less of an impact on the viewer. No longer are skeletons used cautiously and sparingly so as to impact the viewer, but rather now our culture, art and fashion have become so saturated with images of skulls, that they have become commonplace, desensitizing the viewer to the horrific symbolism that skulls once carried. With influences from the Mexican day of the Dead and the rise in popularity of skulls in fashion (Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen), skulls have begun to be portrayed as pleasant, and detached from death.

Damien Hirst’s sculpture, “For the Love of God”, made in 2007, consists of a platinum cast of a human skull encrusted with 8,601 diamonds. The sculpture was modelled on an 18th century skull, but the only surviving human part of the original is the teeth, which partly preserves the grotesque element of the piece. ‘I just want to celebrate life by saying to hell with death,’ said Hirst, ‘What better way of saying that than by taking the ultimate symbol of death and covering it in the ultimate symbol of luxury, desire and decadence?’  

Otto Dix

Otto Dix was born in Germany in 1891. On the outbreak of WWI, Dix volunteered for the German army and by the end of the war, Dix had won the Iron Cross and reached the rank of vice-sergeant-major.

After the war, Dix developed left-wing views and his paintings and drawings became increasingly political.  In 1924, Dix produced a book of etchings called “The War” that was later described by one critic as "perhaps the most powerful as well as the most anti-war statements in modern art".

“The war” shows explicit, unrelenting images focusing on the aftermath of the war: dying soldiers, dead bodies and ruined landscapes, from the perspective of a soldier who witnessed these things firsthand. The titles of the individual etchings, describing the location of each scene, make them become a diary rather than a collection of imagined images, while monotone palette provides a solemn atmosphere.

Skull

This decaying skull symbolizes the horror of WWI. For Dix and other WWI artists, skulls were used to demonstrate the dark reality of death that war inevitably brings.

Wounded Man (Autumn 1916, Bapaume)

The disfigured soldier haunts the viewer, demonstrating both the physical and psychological damages of war. In this print, the white patches Dix has left in part of the man’s face draw links to skulls and inescapable death.

Dying Soldier

Here, Dix uses aquatint, in contrast with the tonal marks dependant on the distance between etched lines, to give an effect of decaying flesh.