10 Fantastically Fascinating Contemporary Printmakers
Most of us have tried printmaking at some point in our creative lives. I mean, even if you’ve slapped paint on a potato and banged it onto a piece of paper when you were 5, that’s printmaking, baby!
These 10 contemporary printmakers caught my eye and my art-loving heart, and it is my absolute pleasure to share them with you.
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Side note, and this will come across as so simplistic: Every time I go looking for artists to share, I am blown away by how inspired I get. I just want to live in the place where artists download art and let it flow through them.
Side note #2: Printmakers seem to be so good about sharing process videos – enjoy watching some of their techniques!
#1 Michael Fernando
Michael Fernando is sharing (and selling) his oil-based monoprints on Instagram, and his pieces are wonderfully textural, giving the subject matter an expressionistic, slightly disturbing feel.
The subject matter adds to that, as he favors recreating scenes from horror movies with some of prints. If you are a horror film buff, maybe you can recognize these two scenes?
#2 Work & Turn Collective
Babs Jossi and Paul Crawley are the Work & Turn Collective, creating clean, graphic design prints specializing in letterpress. I love their sense of exploration within the confines of letterpress, experimenting with Risoprinting, woodtype, and however they achieved these beautiful water droplets in the first image below. Ahhhh
#3 Jasmine Floyd
Get your eyes ready for a regular hoedown. I have no idea what that means, but Jasmine Floyd’s work will make you happy. How to describe it? Childlike psychedelic? Anyway, I dare you to be able to stop scrolling through her feed.
#4 Lucie Spartacus
Lucie Spartacus is a French artist whose prints dive deep into the art and history of the nineteenth century with her engraving and linocuts. It’s fun to experience the contrast between the 19th c. subject matter and present day process shots she includes in her feed.
#5 The Little Friends of Printmaking
JW & Melissa Buchanan are The Little Friends of Printmaking, and by their name alone you can tell they specialize in lively, fun screen prints that make you want to jump right in and live with all the inhabitants. There’s definitely a Richard Scarry vibe going on in some of the prints, so take a gander.
The Little Friends of Printmaking
#6 Print Destroyer
If you dig old zines and concert posters, I think you’ll enjoy the prints of Jim H. Madison. They are cool and raw with an 80’s skater/punk vibe that some of us Gen X’ers enjoy. 💀
Officially licensed Rat Fink prints
#7 Jenny McCabe
Get ready to be inspired. Jenny McCabe makes luscious intaglio prints in her UK studio – with a special emphasis on BIRDS! Her work is illustrative and the love for her subject matter comes through easily with every print. Look at those perfect birb eyes!
#8 A Perspective Press
Laura Arteaga Charlton’s prints blow me away. She makes prints with cardboard, and they are gloriously simple and beautiful, exploring printmaking as the fascinating medium it is. Go ahead and guess what cardboard item the second print is made from…
#9 Merina terauds
Merina is a printmaker living in Michigan, and creates fabulous etchings that she then hand-watercolors. The theme of nature weaves its way through her work, even when humans are present, and the amount of detail invites you in to linger over each piece.
#10 Kathleen neeley
Rounding out my collection of printmakers is Kathleen Neeley, who has quite the loyal fanbase on Instagram, and rightly so. Her linocuts are brilliant, both in terms of technique and subject matter, and if you are like me, you will find yourself mesmerized by her weird and wonderful printed scenes.
I really like Jenny McCabe’s design #7. I even had it modified as temporary tattoos I’ve always found some great ideas here, and they never let me down. All of them were amazing.