Connor Larkin

The Colour of Dead Water

The Colour of Dead Water examines the intersection between stagnation and stillness, and attempts to reconcile the binary distinction between the two. Using experimental, process-based techniques to explore form and interplay to create a series of modular plates, this work has taken shape as a continually-expanding varied edition of prints. The intention through these processes is to embrace the labour and repetition inherent in printmaking as a medium, while exploring the infinite number of possible combinations and interactions between each print’s constituent elements. This is a body of work that has no definitive endpoint: the continued development of the modular plates (exploring gesture, colour, and material considerations) has led to an organically evolving overarching project that gives space for careful exploration, and (most importantly) the dissolution of rigidity. The Colour of Dead Water explores notions of stagnation through the visual language of water, considering the role that stagnation plays in an ecosystem. The presence of the boat, the primary literal image in this work, explores the “dead water phenomenon”, a rare environmental occurrence in bodies of water where stratified layers of the water work in contradiction to each other. In such as state, as force is applied to one layer an equal, opposite force is applied to the layer beneath, prohibiting any forward motion. Considering this literal phenomenon as a metaphor for more esoteric notions of stagnation, Connor challenges the idea that stagnation is inherently a negative state of being, instead suggesting that it more accurately represents the necessity of moments of rest and return, whether desired or not. He argues that the only difference between stagnation and stillness is how we choose to view and contend with these moments. Everything is constantly in motion, and it is the decision of the individual whether we allow ourselves to recognize it or not.

“ A continually evolving edition of prints utilizing a series of modular plates, The Colour of Dead Water serves as a vehicle to explore rhythm, stagnation, and stillness, and attempts to identify and exist withing the interstice between these ideas. Through several approaches to intaglio printing (including spit biting, soft ground impressions, line etching, and chine colle), it explores how repetition and sameness can be simultaneously embraced and resisted. Several material considerations were made during the development of this work. Using the bark of fallen trees as an approach to markmaking through soft ground serves as a way to engage with organic expressions of the imperceptible passage of time. The decision to rely heavily on spit biting allows more direct engagement with water, which served as a the foundational analogue for the conceptual explorations undergone during the development of this work, and allows for more intimate interaction with the ideas I have been investigating. I also included unconventional paper choices in the development of this body of work; many pieces in this series are printed on Favini Alga Carta paper, a paper that has been made from algae since the 1990s as a way to contend with rampant algae growth in the Venetian canals. While the paper interacts unpredictably at times when used for intaglio printing, it does so in exciting ways; when soaked, the algae begins to bloom again, and both the physical and visual texture of the paper changes. When considering the importance of process, and the movement and interactions between components that happens beyond our immediate perception, small moments like these became increasingly important to me during the development of The Colour of Dead Water, and remains as such. This series does not attempt to concretely answer a question, but rather insists on the importance of exploring the question, and learning to navigate the nuances of it, while finding space to exist within the interstice and let ourselves experience it as it unfolds naturally, rather than try to quantify and contain it.”