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EACH LINE ONE BREATH - COPPER N°4 - LIMITED EDITION N° 1 of 3 / HANDCRAFTED DISCHARGE PRINTS Print

John Franzen

Netherlands

Printmaking, Engraving on Paper

Size: 43.3 W x 43.3 H x 0.4 D in

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Originally listed for $2,140

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Artist Recognition
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Featured in One to Watch

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Featured in Rising Stars

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Artist featured in a collection

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

LIMITED EDITION N° 1 of 3 HANDCRAFTED DISCHARGE PRINTS Making of Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVy0VEL521w&feature=youtu.be All my works are unique. In general there are no reproductions or prints made, with exception of the limited edition of "Each Line One Breath" in brass & copper. The individual pieces of this edition are directly drawn in copper and brass. The lines are engraved with a needle in varnish on the plate. The plates are subsequently placed in acid bath, which etches the drawing into the material. This technique is an ancient craft to produce discharge printings. From every brass & copper plate a limited edition with ​​3 handmade printings and 1 Artist Print is made. “Each Line One Breath” is a limited edition of 50 free-hand drawings per material. The artist deals with the conceptual interpretation of the genesis and evolution through the most fundamental act in life, breathing, and the initial act of each artistic creation, the basic drawn line. The line is the initial sequence of any drawing and is as such not only the original form but also an archetypically act in his pureness. The creation of a line demands the most fundamental and transcendent state of life: breathing. Furthermore, the artist devotes his concept to the word “inspiration”, derived from the Latin inspirare, “breathe”. Each line is drawn through one breath. Starting with a straight line, each sequence is created by drawing another line that seeks to imitate its predecessor. Concentration and the repetitive act of inhaling and exhaling during each line, lets the lines evolve into logarithmic-like patterns and layers. Dependent on the artist’s constitution, each work contains its individual motion and is therefore unique. The inexhaustible possibilities to see the lines assemble into different patterns are equal to the manifestation of matter and energy. The resulting artworks are reminiscent of waves that transport energy through every single motion across space and time. Lines are an omnipresent element, even in intangible realms. They are in waves of sound and light, water and dunes, trees and their growth rings, rain or grass luffing in the wind. The resulting artworks are reminiscent of waves that transport energy across space and time. The minimalistic pattern of sequencing lines allegorize a sense of continuity, repetition and immortality which is also apparent in the course of universal life. Primarily, this idea remains in strong contrast to the brevity and transience of mundane perception. Effectively, time can be considered as cyclical and not linear as already high cultures did. Composed of the constancy of lines and breath, the drawings attain the vibrancy of pure motion. While drawing, the artists seizes a profound feeling of everlasting energy, which is connected to the unity of the cosmos. He isolates himself from all surrounding influences of the daily world, focuses and increases the feeling within in such a way that it leads to an immense void and connectivity of himself with every living being, the earth and the universe. The draw-whrite-act as a meditation in which the human-universe-executer and the observer will achieve a kind of inner-worldly transcendence. Shi Tao (Shih T'ao / Taochi) formulated the principle of one holistic brushstroke as a medium for the articulation of a non-dualistic cosmos. Even though the execution of John Franzen’s Art is initially a reduction on abstractness and the basic, it is first and foremost a pursuit / quest of genuine truth.

DETAILS AND DIMENSIONS
Printmaking:

Engraving on Paper

Artist Produced Limited Edition of:

1

Size:

43.3 W x 43.3 H x 0.4 D in

SHIPPING AND RETURNS
Delivery Time:

Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.

BIO: John Franzen (1981) was born in Aachen, Germany. Both parents were nurses. With 7 years he grew up in Belgium. Later he attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Maastricht, Netherlands 2002-2007, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Working in various disciplines and materials, he focuses on the theme and production of complex frames of concepts with the focus of the inherent primordiality. He lives and works in Maastricht, Netherlands and as an artist and conceptor. ARTIST STATEMENT: An artist in his true nature is made of incomprehensible multitudes; he is the untidy culmination of a shaman who is not believing but praying, a scientist who is not searching but analyzing, an engineer who is not building but inventing, and a child who is not playing but dreaming. He exists in the paradoxical state of attempting to capture his own vast inner perceptions of reality in the confines of the outer world. His artwork is mystic ritual, scientific model and applied philosophy. His process may be compared to how priests or shamans work while praying. His art springs forth in a way similar to the emergence of holy offerings, that is, from a deep internalization of and total commitment to the unknowable source of everything. Despite this comparison, Franzen’s work remains immanently non-religious. While his process and product may be relatable to religious performance, his muse is rather the concept of the ‘Human-Universe-Executer.’ The ‘Human-Universe-Executer’ can create ad infinitum from the pure energy which he attempts to command. One act, one stroke, one move represent, in essence, all creation. Each further act is merely a repetition of the first and considered redundant. The artist must wrestle with how to accurately convey the fact that the urge to create is, rather than being inconsistent with nihilism, is intimately allied with it. Shi Tao formulated the principle of one holistic brushstroke as a medium for the articulation of a non-dualistic cosmos. According to this principle, the ‘Human-Universe-Executer’ and the observer achieve a kind of transcendence through the creational act. The one act is thus the most central concept upon which the work relies. In turn, his work reflects the void as source and muse of life itself. Franzen’s art can be seen as a spiritual mindset or mystical conception which has been adapted from Japanese Taoist and Zen philosophy.

Artist Recognition
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Artist featured in a collection

Artist featured by Saatchi Art in a collection

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