Nicky Hoberman | New Monotypes 2012

Donald Taglialatella is pleased to announce the second collaboration between World House Editions and London-based, South African painter, Nicky Hoberman (b.1967).
 
For her second print project, the artist created a series of 11 monotypes at Peter Kosowicz’s London print studio, Thumbprint Editions, on 10 September 2012.   Drawing from images she photographed of a child, Hoberman worked with Charbonnel etching inks and painted directly onto stainless steel plates which were then fed through a press, resulting in uniquely printed works on paper.
 
Like in her previous series of monotypes published by World House Editions, the new works relate to the “Disguise” series of paintings that Hoberman is presently working on.  The artist has said of this series:
 
In these works, I’m investigating concepts of isolation, identity and individuality.  Earlier paintings portrayed girls who inhabited a world where all was dissociated; however physically close they were to each other, they remained isolated and emotionally disconnected.  This series explores the concept of disguises both as a means of hiding (or avoiding communication and relating) and an expression of dual personality.  My protagonists are hidden behind masks, face paint and veils and are camouflaged by trees, bushes and flowers. These gardens are metaphorical settings alluding to the psychic space of relationships.  Much is withheld, as the viewer only partially glimpses my protagonists, who evade real revelation, underlining a sense of dislocation and exclusion.  There is always something of a tension between wanting to be seen and blending in, and I guess this is one of the anxieties of childhood.  On a personal level I always longed for the cloak of invisibility.  Of course the inner world of the child is often a very savage place, full of terrors and sublime places too, hidden behind the mask of innocence, in that way you don’t need the disguise, childhood does it. There is something impenetrable in a young face.