1976-79 Screenprints

While Benjamin was making the layered plywood sculpture for his 1976 exhibition at Gimpel Fils, he was intent on extending his concepts into other media, so he continued to work with master intaglio printer, Hugh Stoneman on a series of etchings he named- ‘A Sculptor’s Garden’. He then met Bernard Pratt, who had just opened a screen print studio and publishing project - the Retigraphic Society in Ightham, Kent. Pratt had been working with the Graffiti Gallery for some time, so Benjamin knew him and they got on very well. When making a screen print he did not start with a finished drawing or a painting to copy, he started with an ‘idea’, so the printer had to be willing to experiment with shapes, colours and textures to produce ‘Trial Proofs’. These would be carefully considered to choose the ones to edition, and the printer would then make approximately -25 to125 exact perfect copies, a complex, challenging process because there are so many things that could go wrong. As well as the Edition there are also a few ‘Unique, Trial Proofs’, one -off images, that usually are just as interesting as the editioned copies.

Following this procedure Benjamin and Pratt produced two prints- ‘Omega 1 and Omega 2, using subtle colours mixed with silver to print layered geometric forms that related to the layered plywood sculpture he had been making, on subtle, gradated backgrounds. This was a radical chromatic change from the vibrant primary colours he had previously used in most of his screen prints. He was delighted with the results, and so was everyone who saw them, so they continued to work together. Nancy had given Benjamin an early 19th Century book of engravings, entitled - ‘The Covering of Solids’, produced as a guide to carpenters, and other workers who had to construct a shape not based on a square or a rectangle. Partly because of his background in engineering drawing Benjamin was quickly engaged and he and Pratt started work on another series of images titled - ‘Covering of Solids -1 Domes, -2 Cones, -3 Pyramids’ , using a similar range of layered, gradated colours. The last stencil for each was made photographically rom the original engravings in the vintage book, and overprinted on the layered forms.

The Limited Edition Screen Prints - the Covering of Solids I, 2, & 3, Omega Factor 1 & 2, and the Sixxxxxx Series were proofed and printed by Bernard Pratt at the Retigraphic Society, Ightham Workshop, Kent, UK. Printed on 90cm x 63cm B.F.K. rives 260gsm hand made paper. Jointly published by the Retigraphic Society and Clarendon Graphics, London, UK

Covering of Solids

Covering of Solids 1: Cones

Covering of Solids 2: Pyramids

Sixxxxxx: Pharox

Omega Factor 1& 2

A set of six larger images titled -‘Sixxxxxx’ was next, and several other suites followed. Christie’s Contemporary Art published ‘Plakias’ a large thirteen-colour horizontal image of layered intersecting translucent forms. Benjamin liked to revisit his past ideas, as well as push on in new directions and cross media boundaries, the images were closely related to forms in the laminated wood sculpture he had previously been working on. These screen prints were very popular with architects and designers, as well as private collectors who appreciated the elegant references to the Modernist and Art Deco periods, as well as Bernard Pratt’s technical skill in producing the detailed, subtly coloured images.

( place the following details under the images, bring the 2 Omega images up under the first para, and rearrange all the others to correspond with the text)

Omega Factor 1

Covering of Solids: (unique proof)

Sixxxxxx: Boxxxxxx

Sixxxxxx: Tantrax

Sixxxxxx: Flag

Covering of Solids 3: Domes

Omega Factor 2

Sixxxxxx: Vida (Unique print)

Covering of Solids: Pyramids (unique proof)

Sixxxxxx: Xaxis