Experimentation is an integral part of a true artist’s creative practice. Painter, Katherine Bradford proves as much with her recent foray into printmaking. Bradford’s three new monotypes and lithograph showcase her artistic prowess, demonstrating how successfully she is able to translate her painterly sensibilities into the mechanical lithographic process. In addition to her new prints, Bradford’s fans will be pleased to learn about the forthcoming monograph of the artist’s work, set for release this summer by JRP|Editions. The book offers a personal look at Bradford’s life and art, compiling over 100 of her works alongside various written materials.

With her new lithograph Looking Out to Sea (2024), Bradford affirms that her extraordinary talent as a colorist extends across multiple mediums. This image contains the same hallmarks of Bradford’s paintings with the solitary diver motif and merging of figuration and abstraction. Instead of layering acrylic brushstrokes, though, the artist ran the same sheet of paper through the printing press multiple times to achieve the same depth and saturation of color for which her paintings are known. 

Bradford engaged in a similar process when making her series of three new monotype prints – Dock Diver, Diver Feet First, and Holding Hands (2023). Here, she experimented with a technique devised by Derriere L’Etoile Studios, which includes painting directly onto a metal plate and running it through an offset press with individually chosen papers to create a series of distinctive prints. The paint transfers from plate to paper with varying degrees of saturation, making each impression its own unique work.

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