Detail of BLIND AGENT

view artist’s resume

BLIND AGENT, 2008

White ground aquatint, aquatint, and drypoint.   

Sheet Size: 28 x 20 inches

Plate Size: 15 x 12 inches

Price: $500.

(price subject to change as edition sells out.) 

Please contact Baer Press for current pricing.

Specifics:

Paper: Magnani Incisioni

Paper Weight: 310 grams  Color: White

Plates: 1 copper

Colors and printing order: 1 plate inked with Charbonnel Black #55985       

Side Margins: 4”

Top Margin: 5”

Bottom Margin: 7.5”

Edition: 35   

Artist Proofs: 12

B.A.T.: 1

Printer’s Proofs: 2

Archive: 1

Signature: Numbered under plate mark lower left and signed under plate mark lower right

Printer Stamp: Baer Press stamp embossed on lower right corner

Working dates: Invitation; October 2007, Project in studio began February 1st 2008. B.A.T. signed March 15th, 2008.

Edition printed: March 15, 2008 - March 25, 2008

Publisher: Baer Press

Press: Baer Press

Printer: Max Portnoy

Assistants: Kent Baer

Known for his innovative art-making techniques, Jeffrey Simmons worked in the Baer Press studio in the winter of 2008 alongside Lead Printer Max Portnoy to create this edition.  The etching features stacked diamonds floating on a rich black field.  The title comes from a phrase Simmons found in the novel The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, published in 1868.  A servant, conscripted to help perform an experiment intended to reveal the identity of a diamond thief, refers to himself as a "blind agent."  The character follows his instructions, with little understanding of the nature of the experiment. 

"While I am not trying to cast myself in a role from the book, the term "blind agent" is of interest to me.  It could relate to aspects of my working process if it is understood to describe an artist working "blind," performing a series of repetitive gestures whose outcome, in this case, is not revealed until the reins are handed to the printer and the first proof is pulled"

Simmons developed the image on a copper plate, working meticulously from top to bottom, one diamond at a time, using taped stencils which obscured the previously rendered diamonds from view.

"Although I occasionally peeled back the stencils in order to get a better sense of my progress, I still felt I was working towards an uncertain goal, a feeling that was compounded by the fact that the diamond image, which I normally realize using watercolors, was being tried for the first time using white ground, a printmaking medium unfamiliar to me."

This successful collaborative effort achieved the artist's goal of creating an etching with a dynamic tonal range, suggesting luminous forms floating on a velvety black ground.  We invite you to view other images and a further description of the project on our website.  Baer Press looks forward to new creative exploration with Jeffrey Simmons and congratulates him on his solo exhibition "Nebulæ" at Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, April 3- May 10, 2008.

Simmons (left)

Portnoy (right)

Signing edition in studio, May 2008