What is a Print?

A year or so ago, I received an email that was addressed to a group of printmakers, that asked the question 'What is a Print?'. A list of 36 answers was complied from the responses and sent out. Quite a variety of answers from a variety of people. Not to subject anyone to all 36 responses, below are some of the responses listed by number. My response is number 34.

4. Any mark made by pressure.

13. When I was a young boy, maybe eight or nine, I got into a fight with my brother. He was winning (whatever that means), and so I threw out a barrage of cuss words at him, real cuss words. My mother was standing at the door and overheard me, every word. She stormed out the door, grabbed me by the neck, turned me around, and smacked me on the face, leaving a bright red impression of her hand across my face. It may have been that defining moment that got me into printmaking. It was my first exposure to printmaking; it was a print.

17. Looking at a print from a 21st century point of view, from a philosophical point of view, from the aspect of Life, the print for me is not simply bound to ink, paper, press and so on. It depends what one wants of it.

As I was preparing homemade sauerkraut for the winter, in a large plastic 100 liter container(I live in Slovenia), I thought of a print, of editioning the print in the same way the cabbage is prepared to be soaked in the water, the salt is added, and so on, it references cooking that many printmakers reference when talking about prints or printmaking. However from a life perspective every day is like a monoprint, it is simply a question of what to choose to record and what not to and what technique to use and which one not to. Dieter Roth chose to record all of it in his video installation that depicts his every movement in the house. So to me the (ultimate) print in this case is a monoprint of a human generation. It has a matrix, it leaves an imprint on the environment, it is somewhat editioned over the years, and than the outcome or the prints in various shapes and forms are collected, displayed and accumulated in private residencies, museums, galleries, homes, streets and so on. Some go through editioning/survival and some are simply rejected by the test of time.

19. A print is the spoor of the mind as it travels, repeatable, readable, and often resonant.

22. I feel a print is a piece of yourself.

24. A print is a good friend.

34. Something from somewhere, transferred to something somewhere else, causing something new to come into existence.