An interview with Wayne Crothers by Nick Pill. June 1999. Written for "Grapheion" (European Review of Modern Prints, Book and Paper Art) July-Sept 1999 issue. N P: Nick Pill W C: Wayne Crothers N P:　Repository of Forgotten Sensations is a series of prints initially derived from your own body. They are all clearly anthropomorphic in character, but in some the shape is clearly a human figure whereas in others the shape is amorphous in character giving the impression of some ancient, archetypal or forgotten memory. Can you explain what experiments you preformed to archive this variety of shape and form? W C:　The experiments where preformed in my kitchen. The initial experiments involved brushing ink onto my body and lying on very large sheets of paper, each time focusing on what my sensation was at that particular time. During periods of tension my body would be extremely taught and I wouldn't have the patience to lie for long. Because it was uncomfortable, the contact

with the paper was brief and the absorption from body to paper slight producing a representation of a stressed emotion. At times of relaxation when I breath slowly I could lie for a long time, letting my body relax into the paper leaving a more languorous image. So it depends on body energy, breathing pattern, physical state and psychological being. N P:　Then what did you do with the experimental body impressions? W.C.　Transfer them onto a block. I would cut the block in a way that was not premeditated or technically conscious, attacking it a spontaneous manner. Each image takes a couple of days to make so I would go through a whole spectrum of emotionsduring this expressive process. Also when layering the colours I followed my instinct, interacting with the work in an unfettered way. N P:　When you began experimenting did you already have the idea of creating a series or did the idea evolve from the experiments?

W C:　Initially I didn't realize the scale of the project, however I find that once started works take on a life of there own. I can't plan something from beginning to end, if I did I would run out of motivation half way through. I generate energy during process of making and let projects evolve a momentum of their own. N P:　You seem interested in using print in a new and entropic way. C R:　The possibilities for print are infinite. A print is not limited to a transfer of ink from a surface such as a metal plate or woodblock to piece of paper. It can be from anything, from a natural object for example a human body. In such a case there is a transfer of energy from body to paper and because the stencil is an animated object the image takes on an energy of its self. So we have a transferral from a living form to a static medium rather than a static form to a static medium. N P:　Where did this interest in impressions from animated objects come from?

W C:　I've always been fascinated by archaeological sights and human remains as a form of print, perhaps where a person has been ceremoniously placed or fallen in battle. Brushing back the layers of soil one comes across a series of bones laying in entity around which a dark impression, the stains of body fats and muscle absorbed by the soil is evident. An indication of this energy transfer from body to medium is also found in the shroud of Turin. Whether it is a hoax or the actual cloth that lay on Christ is of no concern to me but the concept of energy or spiritual transferral from body is intriguing. N P:　The series has been displayed in different locations including a cedar wooded mountain near Tokyo and a rocky eucalyptus landscape in New South Wales. Why did you exhibit the works in a forest? W C:　The Tokyo installation was shown on a mountain side behind the studiowhere I was working. To relax I'd often go for a walk and became interested in exhibiting

these energy traces in a natural surrounding. This environment was a part of my experience while I was at that studio and in exhibiting in the cedar forest the works and environment interacted as a whole. Very shortly after that I had to pack up and return to Australia for a two year stint. Once in Australia the change in my own life and surroundings was profound. All the seasonal environmental and biological change associated with moving place ,,,, N P:　What do you mean by biological change? W C:　The biological change in response to a new environment and the psychological impact after being away from Australia for 5 years. I wanted to exhibit the same series of prints as being representative of my personal journey. In a sense I am borrowing from the landscape and creating a mood which is a representation of my change of place or journey. N P: Looking at the photographs the impact appears stronger in the

Australian setting. The figures look like they have, or are in the process of self generating out of the ether. They seem to belong un yet not belong, like figures in purgatory. Do you agree the impact is stronger in Australia? W C:　I wasn't critically evaluating either installation. It wasn't a compare and contrast situation, but a personal desire, almost a necessity. The installations were something I had to do whether I wanted to or not. It felt a necessity to have them aired, like an airing of emotions in both places. N P:　Clearly all artists work is influenced by memory, particularly perhaps childhood memory. What kind of memories do you have of growing up in Australia? W C: I was brought up in a suburban landscape with the suburban ideology of you work to buy your own land and castle, you either own things or you don't and you don't go beyond the fence because that is someone else`s territory. I find that very claustrophobic. I feel possession is a creatively

degenerative aspect where as non possession and non materialism is liberating. So the experiences ofgoing to the seemingly unbounded country side or coast, where forces are untamed and not manicured have left indelible memories. At these places life can go through its natural cycle of birth, life, death and then an intermediate state of decomposition. 　This is in contrast to the almost sterile urban environment in which life is paramount but from which the death aspect has been cleansed or hidden. The intermediate state is lost. N P:　In Frozen Column you have used stark blacks and bleeding grays which produce a striking contrast against this white fibrous paper. However through this bleak black and white landscape appear hints of orange and red like veins. What does this represent? W C:　It was a reaction to living in a place of subzero climate. From the bleak landscape that surrounded me lacted as an observer absorbing the elements and reinterpreting them in a personaldimension. Although the landscape at this time seemed

numbed without any of the indicators we regard as representing life. There was a sensation of fluxing hibernation within its ice bound forms. There was a vein of life, fertile elements still residing in the landscape. Blood or fire can used to express this presence. N P:　The pictures have many shapes and forms not all of which are found in Hokkaido..... W C:　Day to day of course you see what is facing you. But that in turn sparks off naturally a recollection of the past. No matter where you are, your thought processes are a function of the interaction between you with the environment. It's almost like pulling out a draw from the back of your mind from which related images can emerge. It's not random or coincidental. It's subconscious and closely related to you present mind set. Many of these images although not found in this region where I made them, are very much a part of my psyche which has been nurtured by the place and its cold environment.

The acute sensation of cold sparked off completely unique aspects of thought and image making. N P:　There appears to be a connection or flow between the works as well. W C:　There is a sequence of twenty prints in which images and sensations flow from one to the other. Elements of one print can be seen in both the previous and following work. Throughout the series can be found a code of small symbols representing a thought or feeling that corresponds or underlies the main image. For example flames to represent conception, feelers or antennae for sensual investigation, interlocking crosses for obligation, inverted pigeon heads for psychological insecurity, ect. N P:　How did you conceive the title of these recent works? W C:　The title Frozen Column is meant to represent thought as a column of memory and brain as a column of knowledge that is slowly

accreted in layers of experience.So my bank of personal knowledge is the column. The frozen aspect is the environment which interacts and modifies the column. N P:　And what are you working on at a the moment? W C:　From the wood blocks used in the Frozen Column series I have been constructing a set of large boxes to encase the derived images. In this way I am bring together the medium used in the creative process and therelated images to produce a resonance between the two.These boxes are the archetypal embodiment in which the images can rest. Nick Pill is a writer and collector of prints living in Japan who has followed with interest recent projects by Wayne Crothers.