Antony Muia, Untitled, 2022, unique state, etching on hand coloured paper.

CMYK brings together five West Australian printmakers who create using woodblock printing, etching, stencil embossing, cyanotype and screen-printing to extend the alchemy and dexterity of the printmaking artform. On display in Mundaring Arts Centre’s Gallery 2, this exhibition celebrates printmaking as both a disciplined craft and a site of experimentation.

Working with colour and mark making on paper these artists negotiate ink and chemistry and the interplay between negative and positive space. Through bold and subtle lines, bleeding colours, layering and a keen sense of composition, they deftly transform the paper surface to create depth and form.

Through the presence and absence of colour they evoke mood and alter interpretations. Often what is omitted is just as powerful as what is added, and each print a unique non-copy of another.

Named after the foundational print colours Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key (Black), CMYK reflects the constraints inherent in working on a flat, two-dimensional surface. Rather than limiting expression, these boundaries provide a framework for experimentation, whilst the ability to re-do, make copies and repeat, offers the artist a freedom to play, and allows the medium to become a collaborator in the process.

participating artists

Shanti Gelmi, Erin Kilbane, Antony Muia, Matt Perrin and Kristy Scaddan