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Gideon Bok. Born 1966.

Gideon Bok's paintings depict the confines of his studio by recording the passing of time, through different layers and passages of paint, as individuals come and go, and as objects shift and move. Bok came to our studios in the fall of 2005 to begin work on the three plate etching which captures the artist's studio environs, in this case, his surroundings at Wingate Studio. In 2007 he returned to Wingate to rework his first etching into an entirely new print, adding three more plates and color.

These two prints exemplify the process of collaboration between artist and printer that we strive to nurture here at Wingate Studio. Speaking about his work at Wingate Studio Gideon writes, "I like to think of the printer/artist relationship as similar to the relationship between the recording producer and the musician. Among other things, it's a process of allowing the artist to figure out how to best make the medium accommodate the artist's studio practice. It has taken Peter and I years to begin to figure out a way of working that makes sense with my perceptual studio practice...The intense history embedded in the studio itself, in addition to the engaging and fun people that revolve around Wingate Studio, make the experience rich." Gideon is a great freind of ours here at Wingate, and we look forward to working with him on new projects in the future.

Bok exhibits at Alpha Gallery in Boston, Plane Space in New York, and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art. He is a recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Scholarship.

Wingate Studio with Aldo's Press, Threnody for R.L. Burnside, 2005.
color etching and aquatint
20 x 44" edition 15
published by Wingate Studio

Gideon's first print at Wingate measures an impressive 12 x 36 inches and is printed in a combination of three different black inks on a 20 x 44 sheet of paper. Bok worked directly on the copper printing plates incorporating hardground, aquatint, spit bite aquatint, sugar lift, white ground and drypoint techniques. The print depicts the activity of the printshop, such as the repetitive movements of the printers, the objects and supplies that went into the creation of his print, and the architecture of the studio. More permanent fixtures, such as the presses, are shown in more precise detail, while objects such as bottles, brushes, or tools are more loosely rendered as they come and go throughout the process. The result is a detailed, heavily worked kinetic surface that truly captures the studio and printmaking environment.

Wingate Studio with Aldo's Press, No Sleep 'Til Hinsdale, 2008.
color etching and aquatint
20 x 44" edition 20
published by Wingate Studio

This is the second iteration of Gideon's first print, combining the plates from the first etching with three new plates, adding color, depth, and a second view of the studio. Like in the first print, permanent fixtures of the studio remain concrete, while the detritus of the creative process moves around the space of the print just as Gideon moved as he worked. With the addition of color, Gideon was able to accentuate the ephemeral aspects of creation and the chaos generated by long periods of continuous work. This print retains the ghostly qualities of his first print, yet as he became better acquainted with the possibilities of color, exciting moments of pause have found their way into the composition. At the same time, the superimposed second view of the shop lends new depth and passages of exquisite detail to the final image.