JOHN FRANZEN, EACH LINE ONE BREATH - COPPER N°5 - LIMITED EDITION N° 2 OF 3 / HANDCRAFTED DISCHARGE PRINTS Print

LIMITED EDITION N° 2 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.