Gordon Mortensen The Southwest Woodblock

Gordon Mortensen (1938 - ) Beautiful Woodblock print by Gordon Mortensen. This woodblock titled "The Southwest " is a 1977 Artists Proof Edition of only 13 and is number 12. Reduction Woodblock Print Double matted and framed (Mat is clean) Any shadow spots are either on the camera digital sensor or reflections Signed Lower right in pencil by the artist. Robert's Fine Art since 1987 Located in Aptos on Beautiful Monterey Bay Image size 22" X 30" Frame size 31" X 39" (shipped without glass) Similar Artist Proof small limited editions sell at $1100 plus. GORDON MORTENSEN 1938- "Art," declares Gordon Mortensen, "is my addiction, my drug, my life. I am compelled to do it." Indeed he is, devoting between eight and twelve hours a day, seven days a week, to his intricate reduction woodcuts -- woodcuts that are so skillfully done, most people think they are watercolors on Japanese rice papers. Although Mortensen has become famous for his woodcuts depicting landscapes, when he began studying art it was with the intent of becoming a portrait painter. In fact, he financed three years of graduate school at the University of Minnesota by doing portrait commissions. Mortensen discovered, however, that the human figure did not allow him the creative freedom he needed. "As a portrait painter," he explains, "I was all-interested in the object that was sitting there and neglected the rest of the space -- the negative or background space." As a result, Mortensen turned to landscapes as his subject and woodcutting as his medium, a combination that allowed him to concentrate more on shapes and textures. "I like color and color contrasts," he states, "but color that can be changed. There is no reason why a tree has to be green, and rocks can be almost any color and any shape. With a landscape, the images and objects can be pushed one way -- changed, bent, distorted, and they won't appear distorted. I don't see my work as naturalistic, or as most people would say, 'realistic.' I am working with abstract elements. The idea is that the print should speak in terms of the arrangement of shapes and the contrast of colors and textures." Mortensen begins the process of creating a reduction woodcut by first studying photographs he has taken. "I might use two or three photographs to make one image, or just part of a photograph to make an image," he describes. "I look for images that have color or possibilities for color, and I look for textures and abstract shapes." He then paints a watercolor sketch, composing an image he feels will work as a woodcut. "The watercolor gives me an idea of what I might achieve," says Mortensen. "I know that it may not be what I want exactly, and that my ideas will evolve as I work on the print. I naturally try to produce a certain kind of color composition, and I always want cools against warm colors. The watercolors are often done with tonal concepts in mind, so anything that is going to happen -- with regard to color -- will usually happen while I am printing." Once he has done the watercolor, Mortensen uses a water-based ink to draw the image onto a block of basswood. Next, he lays down the first color, and any areas that are not to be printed in that color are masked by a stencil. He then runs this first color through an etching press. To produce the next color, Mortenson cuts away -- with an Exacto knife -- those portions of the sketch that will not be printed in that particular color, spreads the selected ink over the wood, and again runs it through the press. He continues to stencil and cut away from the block those images that were produced during the preceding printings for each subsequent color. This method of carving, stenciling, and printing is repeated until the image has been built up in its entirety and the surface of the wood block reduced; hence, the name for this art form: reduction woodcut. Mortensen incorporates approximately 23-47 colors in his woodcuts and executes between 20-35 press runs on handmade Japanese mulberry paper to produce 130 prints per edition. The process is a slow and meticulous one, taking over 30 days to create one edition of extraordinary richness. Mortensen is listed in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in American Art. His works have won numerous awards, such as the Purchase Award at the 62nd Annual International Competition at the Philadelphia Print Club. His woodcuts are on display in countless private collections, over 100 corporate collections, and 20 museum collections, including the National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C., the Library of Congress, the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, Lloyd's of London, AT&T, Xerox Corporation, IBM Corporation, Cargill Incorporated, General Mills Incorporated, and Dayton Hudson Corporation, to name just a few. Biography from AskArt.com