Maria Bonomi, Printmaking Forever; Bridge (2011), 32nd Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts, 2017, installation view of the accompanying exhibition at Jakopič Gallery.
Photo: Jaka Babnik. MGLC Archive.
The work of Maria Bonomi establishes printmaking as a means of expression where paper is no longer the physical limit of a medium but serves as an endless source for experimentation. She skilfully creates contrasts between the unabashed abstract image in bold colours and the thin fine rice paper through which the colours seep, creating transparent veils of colour. Her creative credo was described by curator Breda Škrjanec in the exhibition catalogue as follows: “The visual language of Maria Bonomi has been marked by the vocabulary of the woodcut. She has expanded this to also include other methods of printing and making images. In addition to the woodcut, she also uses lithography and screenprinting, experimenting also with digital manipulation of images. All these techniques allow for her gestural approach, which has grown with her and with her modus operandi. (…) Her prints are made up of large impressions of geometric shapes. The tension in her printmaking is also maintained on paper. She uses thin and transparent Japanese paper, which creates a delicate contrast to the gesturally treated wood of intense colour. (…) Hers is a world of sculpturally treated, communicative matrices, within which she prepares the wood forms so that they can be used for modelling concrete as well as other materials, and are not necessarily printed on paper. For Maria Bonomi, graphic art is art in the making and in the process – be it via computer technology, projection, installation and mixed media – unbound by technology and materiality. With her modus operandi, with her ‘graphic philosophy’ as she calls her creative process, texts and public appearances, Maria is the most eloquent advocate of the creative power of contemporary printmaking.”
Curators: Barbara Savenc and Breda Škrjanec.
Co-producer: MGML – Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana.