New technologies have many advantages in our lives. What was previously a much more arduous process can be easily simplified by using the right mechanisms. One of these previously laborious tasks is creating art copies or prints. While it used to be an incredibly long process, the most difficult part of creating copies of a print today is simply pressing a button. This is followed by waiting for the printer to do its thing. In the past, people didn’t have this distinct advantage, so they found manual ways of making prints—like screen printing that turned out to be a really viable art form.
What is screen printing?
The first recognizable form of screen printing appeared over 1,000 years ago in China, during the Song Dynasty. The process, which was initially based on a hand-stencilled method, soon evolved into fine mesh stretched over a frame. The mesh was sometimes made of silk, and this is where its name comes from: the word serigraphy comes from the Latin sericum , which means silk, and from the Greek graphe , or to write. Since its invention, the technique has changed very little: once the screen with the desired image is exposed, artists transfer their artwork by pressing ink through the mesh with a squeegee onto various surfaces including paper, fabric, and paper. Even wood. Just like in Japanese prints, one color is printed at a time, so multiple screens must be used to produce a multicolor image.In the 1960s, American artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol popularised the technique by using it to mass-produce brightly coloured graphic-style prints. His art marked the start of the Pop Art movement and essentially the end of Abstract Expressionism. Since then, contemporary artists have continued to use screen printing as a medium to produce inspiring works of art.
ANDY WARHOL
Pop artist Andy Warhol , probably the best known in screen printing history, first used this technique in the 1960s. Warhol is known for producing celebrity portrait stencils and bringing them from the “big screen” to screen printing. , repeatedly printing them in a variety of brilliant colours.
One of the first and most famous series he produced was his Marilyn Monroe prints. Warhol based on a photograph from the star’s 1953 film Niagara . This marked the beginning of the artist’s desire to create multiple iterations of the same image: whether it was a celebrity or a mundane object, Warhol presented everything he printed as a cultural icon. As Warhol once said: “Isn’t life a series of images that change as they are repeated?”
ROY LICHTENSTEIN
A prolific artist throughout his career, Roy Lichtenstein’s screen prints played a significant role in establishing printmaking as a significant art form in the 1960s. Drawing inspiration from comics, Lichtenstein produced screen-printed compositions in the same style, with thick outlines. , bright colors and Ben-Day points .
His subjects range from heartbroken women and “damsels in distress” to architecture and abstract forms. Lichtenstein’s Brushstrokes series reflects his interest in abstract expressionism. While other artists used brushstrokes to directly communicate their feelings and ideas, Lichtenstein’s Brushstrokes paintings mocked this aspiration, suggesting that while the Abstract Expressionists expressed their aversion to commercialization, they were not immune to it. In Lichtenstein’s opinion, many of the paintings of Abstract Expressionism were also created in series, using the same motifs over and over again. The pop artist explains: “The real brushstrokes are as predetermined as those in cartoons.”
PETER BLAKE
Peter Blake, one of Britain’s leading pop artists of the 1960s, is famous for his 1967 Beatles album cover design Sergeant Pepper. The artist often experimented with screen printing, printing multiple copies of his portraits of The Beatles in primary colours – titled Beatles – ‘Love Me Do’ – in sparkling diamond dust.
Today, Blake produces collage-based screen prints, juxtaposing images from contrasting eras into a single image.
LAURIE HASTINGS
A contemporary screen print artist is Laurie Hasting , who is based in Nottingham and creates limited edition screen prints of her intricate line drawings. Her images usually represent people and landscapes inspired by nature. Hastings also pays homage to nostalgic objects—like juice boxes—in his own take on Warhol’s soup cans.
Hastings sells original prints in his online shop and exhibits in galleries across the UK and internationally.
CLARE HALIFAX
Having studied print textiles, Clare Halifax’s screen prints combine her interest in textiles with her detailed drawings of British architectural landscapes. Her limited-edition ella screen prints are often printed in one or two colors, illustrating the contrast between the gray “concrete jungles” and the verdant parks and botanical gardens of the city center.
CHARLIE BARTON
Raised by two architects, Charlie Barton has always been drawn to urban landscapes and architectural subjects. His hand-screened posters capture the character and architecture of his hometown, Baltimore. You can buy prints of him on Etsy .
ALICE PATTILLO
London-based illustrator Alice Pattullo produces quaint yet vibrant screen prints that explore “British traditions, folklore and superstitions”. A blue and pink screen print illustrates the art of making jam with some helpful advice: “Always make your preserves at the best time on the Moon to get the most out of your yield.”
CHUCK SPERRY
In his current series, Chuck Sperry creates screen-printed wood panelling of “contemporary-classical muses.” His use of lush oil inks in colourful pattern overlays results in gorgeous portraits of women inspired by “the spirit of modern rock poster, graffiti, and the utopian ethos of 1960s psychedelia.”
KORITA KENT
Corita Kent was a sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary religious order. She specialized in screen printing, and much of her early work focused on religious themes. Throughout the 1960s—when she left the order and moved to Boston—her works of hers evolved to include more political themes.
Before her death in 1986, her work had become much more sparse and introspective. However, she remained committed to social causes for the rest of her life.
JERMAINE ROGERS
Jermaine Rogers began receiving widespread recognition for his “ gig posters ” in the 1990s, and has since created artwork and posters for musical artists such as David Bowie, Niel Young, Radiohead, Foo Fighters, and many other well-known bands. His screen prints combine vibrant colours, patterns, and images that reference various icons and themes of art, music, and pop culture.