The Conceptual Printmaking Practice

of Ian McKeever RA
 

Emma Maitland - 515950

Word Count: 2143 including quotations (139 words)

List of Illustrations

Fig. 1 McKeever, I. (1998-99) Prints from Between Space and Time series [etchings] At:
https://www.ianmckeever.com/prints/between-space-and-time/ (Accessed 16/12/2022)

Fig. 2 McKeever, I. (2009) Prints from Six fromTwelve series [lithographs] At:
https://www.ianmckeever.com/prints/six-from-twelve/ (Accessed 16/12/2022)

Fig. 3 McKeever, I. (2010) Prints from Twelve Standing series [etchings] At:
https://www.ianmckeever.com/prints/twelve-standing-etchings/ (Accessed 16/12/2022)

Fig. 4 McKeever, I. (1993) Print from That Which Appears [woodcut] At:
https://paragonpress.co.uk/works/that-which-appears (Accessed 16/12/2022)

Fig. 5 McKeever, I. (2001-02) Print from Jerusalem [etching] At:

https://cristearoberts.com/exhibitions/164-ian-mckeever-jerusalem/ (Accessed 16/12/2022)

Fig. 6 McKeever, I. (2017) Print from The Measure [lithograph] At:

https://fineartruminations.com/2018/09/25/ian-mckeever-weight-measure/ (Accessed
16/12/2022)

Fig. 7 McKeever, I. (2015) Prints from Eagduru series [polymer gravure] At:
https://www.ianmckeever.com/prints/eagduru/eagduru-1/ (Accessed 16/12/2022)

Fig. 8 McKeever, I. (2017-19) Print from Henge series [lithographs] At:

https://www.ianmckeever.com/prints/henge/ (Accessed 16/12/2022)

Fig. 9 McKeever, I. (2005) Prints from Sentinel series [lithographs] At:

https://www.ianmckeever.com/prints/sentinel/ (Accessed 16/12/2022)

Fig. 10 McKeever, I. (2010) Prints from Twelve Standing series [etchings] At:
https://www.ianmckeever.com/prints/twelve-standing-etchings/ (Accessed 16/12/2022)

Fig. 11 McKeever, I. (2015) Prints from Four Seasons series [lithographs] At:
https://www.ianmckeever.com/prints/four-seasons-and-eight-small-stones/ (Accessed
16/12/2022)

Fig. 12 McKeever, I. (2017-19) Prints from Henge series [lithographs] At:

https://www.ianmckeever.com/prints/henge/ (Accessed 16/12/2022)

Fig. 13 McKeever, I. (1996) Prints from Colour Etchings series [etchings with aquatint and
drypoint] At: https://www.ianmckeever.com/prints/colour-etchings/colour-etching-a/
(Accessed 16/12/2022)

Fig. 14 McKeever, I. (1997) Prints from Eight by Twelve series [woodblock] At:
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/mckeever-eight-by-twelve-66066 (Accessed 16/12/2022)

2
Introduction

Ian McKeever is a self-taught conceptual artist who was elected to the Royal Academy in
2003. His early work was landscape inspired, but in the late 1980s he came to the
conclusion that there was no point in depicting things that were already in the world and
shifted focus to develop an abstract language based on the human body and architectural
structures (Ian McKeever, s.d). The result is an intriguing body of work that is “shot through
with the concept of process rather than product, equivalence and emblem rather than
illustration and representation” (Green, 1996).

Although best known as a painter, his work is multi-disciplinary and encompasses

photography as well as the substantial series of prints that he has produced over a 30-year
period [Appendix 1]. In this study, I will summarise the contribution that printmaking has
made to his practice with reference to the themes that inspire his work, the processes that
he uses to develop it and the external influences that provide context.

Themes

Whatever the medium, McKeever’s work is driven by an exploration of space and time, two
recurring and interrelated themes through which he attempts to visualise his sense of being
in the world.

His interest in space is rooted in the way that the body relates to its surroundings, which he
sees as a form of consciousness that extends beyond the purely physical. The ongoing
investigation of this concept can be traced across his work but is perhaps exemplified by
Between Space and Time (Fig. 1), a portfolio of nine etchings in which the central arching
form represents a body within the space that surrounds it, and the radiating web signifies the
force this sends out into the world. This pictorial vocabulary of webs, vortices and tunnels
recurs throughout McKeever’s body of prints as he attempts to depict “the elusive boundaries
that separate and link individual consciousness to surrounding space” (Lloyd, 2004).

Fig. 1 Prints from Between Space and Time series (1989-99)

This fascination with space also extends to McKeever’s belief that “the work demands a certain
relationship to the human body, and once you have transgressed that …. the thread tying body
to body is broken” (Royal Academy of Arts, 2010). He aims to work within, and ultimately to
depict, this sweet spot where empathy between artist and art is at a maximum (Slade
Contemporary Art Lecture Series, 2016).

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He has a similarly unorthodox attitude to time, viewing it essentially as a medium that is
integral to the making of his work, and embodied within it so that it forms “not a sequential
narrative, but rather a complex summation of experiences, sensations, associations and
memories” (Lloyd, 2004). Although he mainly refers to this consciousness of time in relation
to his drawn-out painting practice, McKeever has also spoken of his interest in the
contrasting nature of the more immediate processes involved in printmaking, which I will
expand on later in this study.

Overarching these key themes is a career-long aspiration to find a way to depict the quality
of light, where he rejects traditional methods of representation in favour of creating an
internal illumination that appears to emanate from his work. This desire to prevent any sense
of illustration also emerges in the limited, predominantly monochrome, colour palettes that
he uses to “feel a form’s aura, to make it luminous” (Gilmore, 1997). Although this effect is
most obviously apparent in the multiple, veiled layers of his ethereal paintings, an inner glow
can also clearly be sensed in print series such as Six from Twelve (Fig. 2) and Twelve
Standing (Fig. 3).

Fig. 2 Prints from Six from Twelve series Fig. 3 Prints from Twelve Standing
(2009) series (2010)

Influences

McKeever has said that he cannot simply conjure images from his imagination (Whitechapel
Gallery, 1990) and cites an eclectic range of influences, including European art history,
philosophy, literature and modern “transcendentalists” such as Barnett Newman and Rothko,
which over time have developed into the dense network of thought that provides the
foundation for his practice.

These influences are not generally overt, but several of his print series do relate to specific
pieces of writing - for example That Which Appears (Fig. 4) was a collaboration with poet
Thomas Clark, whilst Jerusalem (Fig. 5) relates to William Blake’s epic poem, and The
Measure (Fig. 6) to work by Peter Levitt. In each case, McKeever’s prints represent his
personal response to the underlying themes and motifs in the written piece rather than a literal
illustration of their narrative.

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 Fig. 4 Print from That Which Fig. 5 Print from Fig. 6 Print from The
Appears Jerusalem Measure (2017)
(1993) (2001-02)

Although he has moved away from landscape-based work, travel to remote locations such
as New Guinea, the Sahara and Siberia has played an important role in his creative process
(Green, 1996) so that, for example, the tunnel and web motifs in Between Space and Time
can be seen in the Siberian Watercolours which date from several years earlier. More
recently, he has been inspired by his experience of being in places close to his home in
Dorset, producing series such as Eagduru (Fig. 7), which uses polymer gravures of
photographs taken within his house, and the Henge lithographs (Fig.8) which were inspired
by the pre-historic standing stones at Avebury.

Fig. 7 Prints from Eagduru series (2015) Fig. 8 Print from Henge
series (2017-19)

Process

McKeever describes his practice as a gradual move from abstract thoughts, feelings and
sensations towards the creation of a tangible object in the form of an artwork (Slade
Contemporary Art Lecture Series, 2016). Unsurprisingly, this takes a long time, and it is not
unusual for him to spend several years on a body of work. He always works in series,
typically on a group of 10 - 20 pieces that he switches between so that “work grows out of a
collective identity” (Armitage, 2016).

He uses a range of media to explore an idea, including drawing and photography, and
emphasises that he sees these as separate and autonomous activities, not as sketches or
preparatory studies for other work. Drawing is central to his practice, providing a constant
“multi-dimensional vehicle for manifesting, developing and transmuting the many
impressions and ideas registered …. on both conscious and subconscious levels” (Green,
1996). He rarely draws with a pencil, preferring the “fluid interchange between ideas and
actions” afforded by a brush (Lloyd, 2004) and this sense of flux is also apparent in his
prints, which have the same sense of immediacy rather than meticulous planning.

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After the completion of a series, McKeever spends time making multiple quick works on
paper as a form of catharsis, reflecting on what might have been and speculating on which
direction his work might take next (Armitage, 2016). In this way his work develops in an ever
evolving pattern of repetition, letting go and addition. For example, there is a clear
progression in the way that the dense outer bands that frame Sentinel (Fig. 9) become more
dominant in Twelve Standing (Fig. 10), before forming the sole element in Four Seasons
(Fig. 11) and evolving back into a looser, mismatched pair for Henge (Fig. 12).

Fig. 9 Sentinel Fig. 10 Twelve Fig. 11 Four Fig. 12 Henge

(2005) Standing (2010) Seasons (2015) (2017-19)

Printmaking

McKeever has worked with a wide variety of printmaking techniques including woodcuts,
etchings, lithographs and, more recently, polymer gravures, in each case developing close
collaborations with the master printmakers who edition his work, most notably Hugh
Stoneman. His print series stand alone as bodies of work in their own right, although they
often share themes and titles with pieces created using other techniques so that, for
example, the titles Hartgrove, Marianne North, Twelve Standing, Sentinel, Assembly and
Henge have all been given to paintings, whilst Eagduru also exists as a photographic work.

This interrelationship between prints, paintings and photographs is complex, and McKeever
describes them as feeding off one another in a symbiotic process in which printmaking has
become invaluable as a counterpoint, enabling him to resolve ambiguity and “consolidate
images he can only evoke in painting, pushing them into a concrete state, a single
possibility” (Gillmore, 1997). The relative dates of the works that share a title provide an
insight into this interactive practice: for example the Assembly Etchings and Twelve
Standing were both produced in the midst of work on the paintings.

McKeever enjoys the contrasting qualities of the various processes that he uses, to the
extent that the differences he perceives in the way they operate forms an important element
in his exploration of time and space. In comparing photography to painting, for example,
McKeever has said that the former reduces time, whilst the latter accumulates it (Ian
McKeever in conversation with Nigel Warburton, 2017) and, although he has sadly not
provided a similarly neat view on where printmaking might sit within this model, it is clear that
its relationship to time also lies at the heart of his interest in the medium.

He has spoken, in particular, about what he sees as the defining characteristic of

printmaking, namely the definitive “moment” at which “under the pressure of the process I
have to make a decision” (Lloyd and McKeever, 2000). Although the distinctive mental
demands of the process are thus an important factor in the comparisons he draws with other
media, the concept of pressure has its zenith in the action of the printing press, which he

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sees as literally, physically, compressing the time and space that epitomise his practice into
a tangible image: ”this compression is beautifully exemplified by the press itself. Just
pressure and weight and in that instant when space and time are put under pressure you get
an image” (Lloyd and McKeever, 2000).

This keen interest in the physicality of the printmaking process can also clearly be seen in
the prints themselves, particularly earlier works such as Colour Etchings and Eight by
Twelve, which Jill Lloyd eloquently describes: “the very process of gouging and cutting the
wood, which McKeever does with a simple chisel or large nail, or scratching into the etching
plate, involves a physical act of self-affirmation that is very different from the slower, more
complex decisions involved in where to place a brushstroke” (Lloyd, 1998).

Fig. 13 Prints from Colour Etchings series (1996)

Colour Etchings (Fig. 13) is a series of ten etchings with aquatint and drypoint, which have a
visceral sense of the vigorous processes used to create them, with the artist working directly
onto the plate after preparing a small group of monoprints. Each print was pulled from a
single plate, which adds to the sense of capturing a moment that is so important to him, and
the plates were wiped vigorously to retain all of the feeling that went into in their making
(Gillmore,1997). The title is initially puzzling, as the entire series is monochrome, but, as with
much of McKeever’s work, the answer lies in a philosophical concept, namely Ludwig
Wittgenstein’s reflections in Remarks on Colour, which question the traditional idea of colour
as something that is both simple and logical.

Fig. 14 Prints from Eight by Twelve series (1997)

The variations on a loose grid composition in the Colour Etchings prints, which can be
interpreted as the body or perhaps stone structures, demonstrate McKeever’s experimental
approach to printmaking, including some pieces that are clearly the same plate inked in

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different ways, and this sense of exploring an idea through making is even stronger in Eight
by Twelve, which followed a year later (Fig. 14). The ninety-six woodblock monoprints in this
series comprise eight variations on each of twelve compositions, and were cut from industrial
plywood with a jig-saw. Using a technique derived from Munch, the individual pieces were
inked separately and then reformed before a single pass through the press, some with
lighter inking to leave white outlines and some simply using the weight of the press blankets
to create “blond” prints.

The seeds of the distinctive visual language that McKeever has developed over the past 30
years can clearly be seen in these earliest prints so that the grid-based shapes in Colour
Etchings, are distorted and joined by curves in Eight by Twelve to prefigure the nets and
arches seen in Between Space and Time and Sentinel. Although the raw physicality of his
earliest works has not been repeated, and the processes he uses have been refined over
time to encompass more colour and multiple plates, his latest work was clearly built on these
foundations and he continues to experiment with the printmaking medium that has become
such an important element in a unique conceptual practice that extends well beyond visual
representation:

“I think it’s to do with the point at which one’s understanding of the world takes on a meaning
which reaches right through to one – to one’s body, to one’s senses, to one’s very core of
being” (Lloyd and McKeever, 2000).

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Bibliography

Armitage (2016) Portrait of a Woman: Armitage Interviews Ian McKeever. At:

https://artimage.org.uk/news/2016/portrait-of-a-woman-artimage-interviews-ian-mckeever/
(Accessed 27/04/2022)

Elliott, P. (Ed) (2001) Contemporary Art Prints. London, Booth-Clibborn Editions Ltd.

Green, L. (1996) Ian McKeever: Works on Paper 1981-1996. London, Contemporary Art
Books.

Gilmore, P. (1997) Ian McKeever Colour Etchings. London, Alan Cristea.

Hands, G. (2018) Ian McKeever: Weights and Measures. At:

https://fineartruminations.com/2018/09/25/ian-mckeever-weight-measure/ (Accessed
02/06/2022)

Ian McKeever (s.d) Biography. At: https://www.ianmckeever.com (Accessed 19/04/2022)

Ian McKeever in conversation with Nigel Warburton (2017) [Podcast] Hacklebury Fine Art.
At: https://hackelbury.co.uk/extras/podcast-ian-mckeever-and-nigel-warburton/ (Accessed
19/05/2022)

Ian McKeever Interview: Mystery to the Viewer (2014) [Online video] At:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh6QbJNvWZE (Accessed 20/04/202)

Lloyd, J (1998) ‘Ian McKeever: Twelve x Eight and other Woodcut Monoprints’ In: Alan
Cristea Gallery, Ian McKeever. London, Alan Cristea Gallery. pp 5-1

Lloyd, J. (2004) Ian McKeever: recent paintings and ten years of drawing. Cambridge,
Kettle’s Yard

Lloyd, J. and McKeever, I (2000) ‘Between Space and Time: An interview between Ian
McKeever and Jill Lloyd’ In: Alan Cristea Gallery, Ian McKeever: Paintings and Works on
Paper. London, Alan Cristea Gallery. pp5-15

Ohrt, N (2015) Ian McKeever: Between Darkness and Light. Torshavn, Føroyaprent.

Royal Academy of Arts (2010) Ian McKeever and Richard Deacon in Conversation. In:
Artists' Laboratory 1: McKeever Special Edition. At: https://www.ianmckeever.com/wp-
content/uploads/2016/05/Artistss-Laboratory-01-RA-Ian-McKeever-and-Richard-Deacon-in-
Conversation-2010.pdf (Accessed 20/04/2022)

Slade Contemporary Art Lecture Series, 2016-17 – Ian McKeever: painting is not flat art
(2016) [Online video] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2KjZSjf8jI (Accessed
(Accessed 19/04/2022)

Whitechapel Gallery (1990) ‘Conversation Between Ian McKeever and Paul Bonaventura’ In:
Exhibition Guide: Ian McKeever Paintings 1978-1990. At: https://www.ianmckeever.com/wp-
content/uploads/2016/05/Exhibition-Guide-for-the-Interview-Ian-McKeever-with-Paul-
Bonaventura-Whitechapel-Art-Gallery-London-1990.pdf (Accessed 20/04/2022)
[247 words]

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Appendix 1 – Chronological List of Ian McKeever’s Print Series

That Which Appears 1993 22 Woodcuts

50.5 x 76.2 cm

Hartgrove 1994 Woodcut

monoprints

89 x 68.5 cm

After Marianne North 1996 2 etchings with

drypoint & aquatint

56.6 x 44.4 cm

Furtherence 1996 5 etchings with

drypoint & aquatint

56.8 x 45 cm

Colour Etchings 1996 10 etchings with

drypoint & aquatint

69 x 53 cm

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 Eight by Twelve 1997 96 woodcut monoprints

112.2 x 79.8 cm (paper)

Between Space and 1998-99 9 etchings

Time

37 x 51 cm

Jerusalem 2001-02 21 etchings

106 x 91 cm

Sentinel 2005 5 lithographs

76 x 54 cm

11
 Assembly Etchings 2007 5 etchings

32 x 23 cm

Six from Twelve 2009 6 lithographs

41 x 30 cm

Twelve Standing 2010 5 etchings

45.7 x 33 cm

Four Seasons 2015 4 lithographs

70.5 x 48.5 cm

12
 Eight Small Stones 2015 8 lithographs

32 x 27 cm to
43 x 27 cm

Eagduru 2015 4 polymer gravures

24 x 36 cm

The Measure 2017 lithographs

Henge 2017-19 4 lithographs & 6

etchings

59 x 69 cm

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