Use of screenprint to produce original art works by multiplying original images

Abstract

Photography and screenprint constitute two important turning points throughout the history of printmaking. When photography freed printmaking from the task of producing analogues of reality, printmaking was sprung loose from its role subordinate to painting and sculpture. Printmaking has become a perfect medium to create images in which it is also shown that art and technology are combined in those images. Screenprint represents the entrance of mass culture and commercial values in the realm of art, especially with the use of photographic imagery in silkscreening process. In this study, after a historical survey of printmaking and photography, an account is given of the use of screenprint in art works from the 1950s up to the 1990s. Then, a detailed description is made of a work which is produced in the scope of this study in the light of the issues on photography and mechanical reproduction. Finally,, an evaluation is made on contemporary printmaking as far as the issues on originality and visual communication are concerned.