With a resurgence of interest in printing that began among American artists in the 1960's, it was inevitable that the next generation of artists would continue to not only further the case made for technological invention, but reflect more seriously on the traditional methods practiced in Western and Eastern cultures. Scott Sandell exemplifies this affinity with both the past and present and with cross cultural currents.
The handmade papers that Sandell selects are often the sources for his creative ideas. He seeks out these materials from the exotic Japanese and Nepal cultures because of both their various textural effects and ink absorbing qualities. The peculiar irregularities and unfinished characteristics of such types of papers as Okawara, Unyru, Marrikko, Suzuki, Chiri, Sechishu, Mulberry and Buhtan (a kind of paper made from sugar cane in the Nepal mountains) have a freshness that appeals to the often spontaneous manner in which Sandell prefers to work.
A Sandell print might pass through as many as thirty-odd steps before the artist releases it from his Plum Island Studio. Traditional woodblock, intaglio and lithographic methods are joined with a more advanced photographic transfer procedure. The surfaces are enriched by imposed linear or gestural configurations spontaneously conceived. Consequently, each print in limited editions is unique unto itself.
Although monumental in scale and striking in color intensity and contrast; china blue, scarlet, creamy yellow, oranges and pinks, Sandell's prints are arrestingly intimate and contemplative. Sandell has courageously pushed the spatial field of printmaking into the expansive nature of our times.
