James Nares and Durham Press have collaborated on a suite of screenprints: Category V. Comprised of five prints measuring 37 by 19 1/4 inches each, Category V is published in an edition of 45. The prints are also available individually.
With Category V, Nares continues to develop his celebrated brushstroke imagery. Each print depicts a solitary, gestural mark that the artist made with brushes of his own design. The prints record the dance-like motions of these brushes—their twists, skips, dashes, and turns. While these works often draw associations with action painting because of their free-form appearance, Nares practice stands apart because of his commitment to repetition and his exacting eye. He rejected many compositions, clearing the surface and repeating his process until a desired state of movement and balance was achieved in each image.
A similar meticulousness was applied to the printing process in creating Category V. Each print features twelve screenprinted applications of ink. Building from paler violet to the rich vibrant tones, these layers capture the subtlety and vitality of the artist’s brushwork.
Among Nares’s collaborations with Durham Press, Category V is distinct. While his previous prints feature brushstrokes suspended in the middle of the page or traveling from end to the other, many of these new works engage three or four edges of the paper. In certain areas, the brushstroke almost leaves the page entirely, only to return and continue on its fluid path. When considering the suite together, this movement on and off the page becomes particularly dynamic. One can imagine lines jumping from one print to another, further unifying the individual images into a larger, cohesive composition.
James Nares (b. 1953, London, United Kingdom) lives and works in New York. His recent solo exhibitions include “Portraits” at Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, and “Street” National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Nares’s work is included in many public and private collections, including MoMA; Whitney Museum of Art, New York; Chase Manhattan Bank; Hood Museum, Hanover, New Hampshire; and Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York. In 2008, Anthology Film Archives hosted a complete retrospective of Nares’s films and videos. In 2013, Rizzoli published the first monograph dedicated to his work in all media over the last four decades. Nares is represented by Paul Kasmin Gallery in New York and has been making prints with Durham Press since 2001.