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Tal R | Adidas Boy

Tal R, Adidas Boy, 2020
Woodcut on Japanese Kozo Paper 50g, 88 x 67 cm, edition of 12, suite of 24
Printed by Niels Borch Jensen Editions, published by BORCH Editions
Tal R, Adidas, 2020, woodcut on Japanese Kozo paper

The imagery for Tal R’s Adidas Boy, a suite of 24 woodcuts, is based on a group of bronze sculptures created for his 2020 solo exhibition at Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen.

The concept of revisiting his own imagery for a printmaking project is a familiar work method for Tal R. In connection to his sculptures however, this working approach seems especially appropriate: the physical act of carving a printing plate and coping with the material’s resistance shares many similarities with the creation of a sculpture.

For Adidas Boy Tal R depicts figures from his milieu, sketched in white lines against monochrome backgrounds, which accentuate the wood grain of the blocks he had been working on. During the test printing process with master printer Julie Dam, he decided not to use pure black ink, but to add a small amount of colour pigment to the individual prints resulting in subtle colour variations. This effect becomes most evident when the suite of prints is installed as a sequence.

Tal R, born 1967 in Israel, lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Learn more about Tal R