Today I met Chris Orr. My parents have been regular buyers of his work since 1989 (judging by the date on the first print they bought) so I feel fairly familiar with Chris's work but was feeling rather awed and star struck by the idea of meeting the man himself! Today we were collecting a print mum and dad are giving to my brother for his 40th birthday called 'A Tea Party (you are all welcome)'. Chris and his wife were terribly welcoming and over coffee and the most delicious Portuguese tarts we discussed Norfolk, pneumonia, Neil Bousfield, social media, flooding, the Thames Barrier, floating underground pods and exhibiting. Chris imparted some gems of wisdom:
Have a website
Build a mailing list
Social media is confusing - the algorithms are out to get us!
Exhibiting is everything
The market is UK based again, overseas sales have dried up
I know Chris mainly as a lithographer, but his current work is engraved on plastic which he explained is much cheaper than copper and you can turn it over to see the 'final' image rather than always working in the reverse and waiting to pull the print. He adds colour by hand using watercolour and stencils. He said the downside of the plastic is that it's harder to correct mistakes on than copper.
Chris lives in Battersea and has a studio which he shares with his wife next door to the house, they purposely haven't knocked through so have to go into the street to get between the properties. His press is at a studio in Isleworth which Chris said made lockdown bearable because he could still go to work. He prepares all the plates at the home studio and then does the printing in Isleworth.
On the walls were proofs of current work being made for the RA Summer Exhibition which were fascinating to see.
He was kind enough to show us his recent works from the series 'The Sleep of Reason satirical prints for our time 2020-2022', and Mum commented on his recurring characters which she recognises from over the years, she said they're his artists voice and personality shining through. We'd seen these prints in an exhibition in Petworth and I remember mum commenting on how much she enjoyed his playing with perspective, pointing out a kitchen utensil that was much bigger than it should be. It was fascinating to look at these and have Chris explain the stories behind the characters. Mum had a question about the print that she'd bought: who were the couple on the stage? Chris said he likes drawing harps because of the shapes and that the man was a character from a book he'd been reading when he made the print, it was the hat that seemed to interest him most. I'd been wondering what the strange balancing lizard was and he explained it's levelling up, there's a frog in a mirror in the house, and Chris's recurring dodo. We identified lots of Alice in Wonderland character but he pointed out that the Cheshire cat is chasing a wind up mouse and the reclining pig is from an image where Alice is carrying a pig instead of a baby. I liked the griffin (another animal I associate with my parents art) and he explained it came from another image but he'd swapped whatever it was holding in that one for an ice cream. We chuckled over the Mad Hatter having bit coin in his hat. Mum enjoyed the cauldron being stirred with a rake.
Chris's work provides a commentary on topics of the day and his characters often feature or share similarities with characters from Alice in Wonderland which he described as being something he'd grown up with, as many have, and a place where different realities exist and you're free to dream while still keeping a toe in reality.
One piece he showed us was a one off print where he'd made a loose background with lots of different marks and a light wash of colour and then printed some of the characters from previous prints onto tissue and transferred them onto this print. I remember Caroline Wendling teaching this technique on a 'reusing blocks' course at West Dean, Chris's use of it was for really thin line etchings/engravings that looked incredibly delicate and yet were perfectly printed so the technique is obviously capable of transferring the thinnest of lines and most delicate of images when in the hands of a master. My Mum was particularly taken with one of the images (something that started as a cigar tree, or something like that) in the print and I joked that she should commission him to make a little gathering of all her favourite characters from over the years in one image!
Another image he showed us was 'Black Dog at Tower Bridge' which is a relief print but done using paper. Chris cuts a paper stencil and inks that up then uses it to get a really graphic image. He says the paper improves with use as you can't wash the ink off so the ink becomes part of the paper. He pointed out the patina that is possible as well as the solid colour.
Finally Chris showed us 'Rustbucket... a hymn to the lightships' an image of a lightship with cloud like shapes containing the names of lots of lightships around the country that he liked the names of. It was fascinating as although the central image of the lightship was very identifiable as 'Chris' the lettering behind with the names of the lightships is unlike anything I've seen of his before.
I've seen what amazing results are possible with the most simple of 'plates'. Chris is unhappy with the harsh chemicals so often associated with printmaking, he cleans up with vegetable oil. He keeps an archival copy of every print so even when an edition is sold he still has one (this is something I must start doing!).
Image copyright - Chris Orr