Art and Heritage Online Database

Collection: Gray's School of Art Collection
Object Type: Print
Artist/Maker: Howard, Ian
Date: 1996
Media/Materials: Woodcut with screenprint
Dimensions: image size: 109 cm x 76.5 cm
Classification: Abstract; Composition

Description:

In the suite of prints entitled Heretical Diagrams, Ian Howard explores the theme of ideas in opposition: orthodoxy and heresy, magic and reason, order and disorder. The 'opposition' is found in both the imagery and the form of the prints. On the one hand the compositions are frontal, symmetrical, diagrammatic and describe clear unequivocal designs which reflect the structure of the altar-piece, the icon and the banner. On the other hand these simple designs often act as 'containers' for a complexity of small scale imagery, at times existing within other more tangible containers: glass domes, alchemical vessels, receptacles and recessed areas. These recall not only the shrine, the reliquary, the instruments of experimentation, but also house other self-contained worlds which are in opposition to the larger image.

Edition of 19

Object Number: ABDRG2006.86