Lenore RS Lim’s evolving prints

Change defines the seasons as it guides life. And for many artists, it is one sublime reminder of their mortality. The inevitability of change has deeply influenced the art of Lenore R.S. Lim. In a collection of new works she is presenting via a solo exhibition at the Paul Sharpe Contemporary Art in Manhattan in New York the whole month of April, she reflects a celebration of and, equally, a capitulation to this terribly immense force in the world today. Sa Hardin (In the Garden) is a fine example of this direction. Like the origin of many of her works, the basis for it is a simple, perfect leaf from her mother’s garden in the Philippines. The leaf, for Lenore, embodies the constant cycle of change inherent in nature. As such, it provides her a dynamic platform to make a new series of carborundum monoprints that builds on past works. The series, at the same time, is unique for Lenore. The collection marks the beginning of her experiment in hand painting the completed print with black and other dark tones. The artist’s manipulation of the medium breathes the works with extremely strong dynamics and contrast, on one hand, and a more somber and more serious, painterly tone, on the other extreme. The latter reflects her mood in the wake of post-9/11 New York City. The destruction and devastation attack on the World Trade Center naturally weighed heavily on Lenore, both as a resident and as an artist working in Manhattan. The small, elegant collotype print "Relic (A Memorial for Peace)" confirms this disposition. It speaks volumes about the artist’s forward thinking reputation as a printmaker and her fascination with learning new techniques to engender constant evolution in her own work. "We have seen so much change in the world recently so it is not surprising that my work has evolved," Lenore says on the subject of how these larger carborundum prints, as well as the introduction of collotype in her work, came about. "Whether it is expanding on work that I have already begun or picking up a new technique, change is the force that motivates me as an artist, as well as a mother and a person."

Change requires for many people to alter comfortable routines, to rethink paradigms, to try new ways of doing things. Lenore is no different. The implications of this awareness spill in the show as they confirm that constant evolution is one of the few undeniable truths in life.

Carborundum is an abrasive powder that is mixed with special glue to form a gritty substance. This mixture is spread over the printing surface so it becomes a sort of adhesive, a platform for the rest of the print. Color, shading, and shape are added by using three equally- sized Plexiglas plates, which are covered with a non-toxic paint and printing atop one another – in the style of Miro – with both hard and soft rolls of the press. Patterns texture, shapes, and other nuances emerge at this stage by "lifting" color from plates with a variety of everyday components such as paper towels, cotton balls, Q-tips, and sponges.

Collotype, also known as Albertyle or artotype, is a little-known, if not little practiced, commercial photo-mechanical process of printing that combines elements of printmaking and photo processing. In collotype, a photo negative is converted into a printing plate; then the image is printed from a gelatin surface on a glass support via exposed light. The effect is akin to a continuous tone without the use of a halftone screen, allowing the texture and the nuances of the photo to be reflected on the resulting print.

Collotype generally utilizes traditional photography, but "Relic (A Memorial for Peace)" began as a digital photo – a much more practical, immediate, and decidedly 21st century technique – that Lenore took of Ground Zero. The emotion of the print emerges from her innate, impeccable artistic eye, and is magnified by the intrinsic starkness of collotype reproduction. Perhaps, what is more important, "Relic" becomes a seminal work due to Lenore’s decision to make it relatively small, to draw the viewer in, to require them to look closely, to feel its incredible magnitude.

These troubling times and the resulting somber mood also challenged Lenore. Feeling positive about the accomplishments made in the last series of photocarborundum prints, called "Colors Through Open Windows," shown most recently in Manila, the artist felt an urge to expand the scope and the size of these works. The manifestation of this desire is seen in "Untitled I" and "Untitled II," both long and regal works that seem to be communicating as scrolls in a mysterious new language, heralding great events through vibrant, significant color combinations and exquisite Asian character-like mark making. The abstract markings in the print – "lifted" from the plate with paper towels, cotton balls, q-tips, and sponges and other implements – tell an abstract story all their own, relying upon their interaction with the inks as well as the shapes to expound.

Born and raised in the Philippines, Lenore came to the United States in 1975 and then moved to Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada. She and her family have been in New York City since 1988.

An accomplished and forward thinking printmaker, Lenore finished her bachelor of fine arts from the UP College of Fine Arts in 1967. She also attended the School of Visual Arts in New York, taking courses in printmaking and computer art from 1990 to 1995.

Lenore has focused on printmaking since 1990, each year making great strides and exploring new techniques.

In 1998, Lenore was honored as one of the 12 outstanding Filipino artists overseas by the Metropolitan Museum of Manila. The following year, she was awarded the prestigious Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant.

Lenore was one of the 50 artists chosen to participate in a mammoth art exhibit at the United Nations from June 5 to 25, 2001. She was the only Filipino artist to be included in the international exhibit held simultaneously with the World Women Conference 2000 in New York, which gathered some 2,000 women from government and non-government organizations all over the world as a follow-up to a similar conference held in Beijing, China five years ago.

As a professional printmaker, she works out at the half-a-century old The Printmaking Workshop, founded by master printmaker Bob Blackburn, where most printmakers from around the world go to do their prints when they are in New York.

She has exhibited her work extensively in Austria, Canada, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, the Philippines, and all over the United States.