1/02/2018 - WHITE TIGER SCREENPRINT 1

After I had sent my halftone to the large format printers a day ahead, I was ready to print! I exposed my screen, and prepared it for printing. While it was drying I went along to the uni shop and brought a selection of papers to trial alongside my prints. One of the things I particularly want to try was using the gold and silver papers to give the image value status and suggest the financial motivations of the terrible situation for the tigers. It would also make them appear composed of metal, like a kind of trophy or award of some kind.

As well as this I also picked up some pastel crayon paper which was textured to pick up the details of crayon marks, but was also lovely and thin, but had a much greater material strength than newsprint. I wondered how this would fare differently in the environment than newsprint. It also came in some beautiful mid tones of cream and grey which I thought could feature in this translucent tonal design nicely. Finally I brought a large sheet of graph paper which might combine with the stripes of the tiger interestingly, and also bring back the architectural drawing aesthetic my early sketches had.

 When choosing my colours, I also considered ways to commodify the appearance of the tigers further. One way I thought would be particularly effective would be to give them highly synthetic colours, such as bright blue and neon pink. This would make them unnatural objects, just as the actual white tiger in itself is unnatural and further suggest that instead of truth and naturalism, these animals are grounded in pop culture fiction and sensationalism.

I also wanted to try suggesting around the eyes of the tiger further, potentially by wiping or smudging paint, to suggest not only the animal gaze as I have mentioned previously, but also allude to the problematic nature of the animal's eyesight. I thought this worked very effectively, and on reflection is something I would like to revisit again in a second printing session, with the integration of additional colours, or potentially with further preemptive mark making to affect the final print, and suggest anarchy or interruption within the piece. Or the aspect of a human presence or meddling. 

The metallic materials were highly effective when coupled with the tiger print, as they acted as an effective mid tone against the darker prints of the metallic. I really liked these and thought the slight reflective sheen would also make these pieces very impressive on the streets themselves. As an experiment I also tried printing on the silver in a lighter blue tone, and thought this looked impressive, and gave the image a certain ephemeral, ghostlike quality.
























The graph paper was also very effective, and further alluded to the appropriation and mapping of natural beings and abnormalities for human means. It also suggested bars on a cage, and a separation between the viewer and the subject, not unlike that of Sam Leach's multi-sectioned varnished canvasses.

There was one final visual surprise which I really liked aesthetically. I often do this with prints I have made just because I think it looks funky, although I don't normally comment on it as for the most part it doesn't work that exceptionally well. However in this instance it was particularly interesting. By layering blue and red prints beside one another, I created a mock '3D effect' as seen in retro 3D photoillusions. With the complex patterns and details of the tiger and column, this technique produced a particularly interesting optical illusions style effect which made the exact forms of the tiger very difficult to decipher, even though it was still highly recognisable as a tiger in itself.

I thought this was very effective and visually disconcerting, which was very interesting to me as a kind of reclamation. We have completely genetically plundered these poor beasts in the pursuit of aesthetics, to their great detriment. Yet something in that disconcerting visual effect allowed the tigers to claim back their own image. Something evasive and untamed lies in this sense of an animal which has been entirely constructed by humans, yet in a final act refuses to be objectified and deciphered by them any further.

This style also suggests duality, and could point to how these white tigers are mixed breeds between Bengal and Siberian, and therefore are not pure in one sense or another and sit outside breeding programs and conservation efforts. The concept that there are two images, or two genetics being brought together in a way which is not quite entirely focussed or succesful.

To develop this concept further I want to go back and add one final black layer overtop of the blue and red, as on further reflection and research I have realised that is what true blue/red 3D images have. I think it could also focus the image slightly more, and bring more focus to the eyes of the piece which I think are slightly drained visually when processed in way. Overall I am very pleased with how my design has translated to print, and am excited to come back for a second session with fresh inspiration and focussed drive. Most of all though I am looking forward to having some new material to take to the streets!