A Threat Unspecified As with many of my prints, this lithograph began with one primary image, my model Gary peering through a doorway, which stimulated a new idea. It would grow and mature as more images were added to flesh out the concept. I had already gotten the idea for a work based on the concept of “false prophets”, though in the end this had to be modified or expanded to a more general sense of threat that I thought was reflective of our times.
From an initial photograph I will make numerous drawings on lithographic limestone in order to manipulate or enhance the detail often lost in the photographic printmaking process. The photos above show the original photograph of Gary and the subsequent support drawing on litho stone, which will eventually be printed in dark green over the photoplate being printed in red which can be seen below. This printing session was actually part of a public lithography demonstration I gave for the Honolulu Academy of Arts, Linekona Art School.
In the center of “A Threat Unspecified” is a freeze with a devil dancing across it. This part was graciously played by a model friend of mine, Rand, who put up with having homemade wire and paper horns literally glued to his scalp! The dancing sequence below was shot with a 35 mm camera with motor drive while Rand slowly danced. The individual negatives were then scanned into my computer and combined in Photoshop before being printed out to a film positive, which was then used to expose the image onto lithographic photo plate and printed traditionally by hand.
The astrological medallion photographed years before from a building behind St. Paul’s Cathedral in London helped to provide a perfectly ominous mood with its cryptic symbolism and the almost life-like face of the sun in the center.
The Arch or Guardian figures flanking the top of the print were photographed from the front of a building just off of Trafalgar Square in London and give a wonderfully classic feel to the structure of the work.