by Statement: Meta-morphosis series
The Meta-morphosis series (1994 – 1998) was made using the etching process as one that can imitate weathering and aging processes. The prefix “meta”, a chemistry term, refers to the use of acids and salts, or the organic derivative of an acid; “morphosis” is a change, transformation or degeneration. Printmaking allows for stages in the series to become visible, as each plate was printed at certain stages in its degeneration.
Both Meta-morphosis I and II reveal on the one print the several stages of the image as it metamorphoses. In Meta-morphosis III to XII, each stage stands alone. These stages are subtitled the primo, or first state, which was followed by a progression of deep etches, printed to produce the secondo (second) state, and deeply etched again to form the terzo (third) state. A fourth set of variations is subtitled Passages, in which each of the three states of a plate were printed as layers over each other on the same sheet of paper.
The Meta-morphosis prints reveal a multiple life in which every stage in their degeneration is important. They are images of forms becoming aged to disintegration, the origins of the images becoming uncertain, their disparate forms merging but not absorbed. As prints they exist as stills from a moving process. As a series they draw attention to the continual morphing and weathering of form.
