A stunning show of the intricate and detailed images of Viviane de Kosinsky opened recently at r. h. ballard gallery on Main Street in Washington, Virginia. The show runs through October 12th.
View of installation in the gallery
The artist uses the time honored technique of line etching, which uses a copper plate with the image being "scratched" through a coating or resin. Once the image is complete the plate is dipped into an acid solution which "eats" the metal to the desired depth, before it is stopped with another solution. The resin is then removed and the ink is applied, wiping off the excess and leaving it in the etched lines. The plate is then put through a press and the image is transferred to the paper.
Viviane does an edition of each plate from 35 to 100, hand coloring, in most cases, one area in red as below:
"Downton Abbey", etching, ed. 50, 5' x 4'
She then prints additional images which she hand colors with watercolor as below:
"Downton Abbey", Hand colored etching, 5" x 4"
These images do not hvae editions since each is a unique hand colored work.
Installation view of black and white images.
Installation view of hand colored images.