CATHERINE DUDLEY
GALLERY
SHOAL CREEK
www.galleryshoalcreek.com 512-454-6671 / info@galleryshoalcreek.com
Catherine Dudley
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Monoprint Series, 2012 monoprints on paper with chine colle, 18 x 13 each, paper size
Reveille no. 13, 2012
Continuing her exploration of mixed media collage making, Catherine Dudley has recently published her second collection of monoprints this year. The new series of 20 images, titled Reveille, were printed this fall at Flatbed Press, and are particularly symbolic to the artist: a perfect representation of art and life coming together. “I named my last group of monoprints the Immersion Series (February 2012) because it was the first time I had really jumped back in creatively after the first year of parenthood; the Reveille Series suggests for me the awakening and embracement of a new phase of life and thus a new mode of making art. The bull’s-eye/target imagery, which offers a focal point to each piece, symbolizes optimism and the intention I now feel going forward in all of my creations.” Dudley works extensively with found papers, both as backgrounds and elements for collage. Working with specifically mixed inks selected to compliment the aged vintage surfaces, she screenprints graphic patterns of color; from these papers, she cuts the geometric shapes - flags, darts, and linear forms - that we see throughout her work.
Here, these thoughtfully assembled and collaged pieces (chine colle), give interest to the muted backgrounds and allow for the unique design of each print. Ultimately, Dudley ties the composition together with a single etched element, in this case the found image of a target practice score card. This matrix, etched on a polymer gravure plate, is inked and printed onto each individual piece to form the thematic focus that runs throughout the series. In Reveille, we see Dudley’s celebratory spirit and the delight she takes in mixing media and processes. The artist’s fondness for found papers, printmaking, and the layering of elements comes together in creating campy, design conscious imagery that balances subtle inferences and a light-hearted playfulness.
Reveille no. 7, 2012
Reveille no. 8, 2012
Reveille no. 3, 2012
Reveille no. 20, 2012
Reveille no. 6, 2012
Reveille no. 16, 2012
Reveille no. 17, 2012
Reveille no. 5, 2012
Reveille no. 15, 2012
Reveille no. 9, 2012
CATHERINE DUDLEY began her formal training at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she studied from 1995-1997, focusing primarily on printmaking. She then went on to attend The University of Texas at Austin, where her work was published several times by the Liberal Arts Council and she was awarded the Constance Forsyth Scholarship in Printmaking. In 2000, Catherine completed a BA in Studio Art and soon moved to San Francisco, where she worked on the business side of the contemporary art world for a number of years before moving down the road to Los Angeles. There she continued in the same vein, at the prestigious print publisher Gemini G.E.L., and had the opportunity to work with renowned artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Ellsworth Kelly, David Hockney, Richard Serra, Elizabeth Murray, Susan Rothenberg and Bruce Nauman. “Being involved in sales and print inventory gave me a whole bonus art education: It was amazing and eye-opening to be so directly tied into the contemporary and international art world.” During all of this Catherine was still making and showing her work in hopes of eventually launching her own professional art career. After taking classes at Art Center Pasadena, that day soon came. She took a collage class that completely transformed her approach to making art. She realized that by drawing on her artistic foundation (photography, painting, printmaking) in combination with this new craft (collage), she could create an endless supply of her own materials, therefore completely freeing up her process, allowing it to expand and grow. This discovery marked a pivotal point in her life, one that launched a new chapter in her work and career, culminating in what it is today. Catherine’s inspiration is directly derived from the metropolitan centers where she has lived and visited: Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York, Chicago, Mumbai, and San Francisco to name a few. “I find inspiration on a daily basis in the wide range of visual information that exists in the urban landscape. These details are then translated, or sometimes altogether reinterpreted, into my work via photography, drawing, painting, screen-printing, and ultimately collage. Evolution is the central point of my process, which I achieve through intuitive and recurrent construction, deconstruction, and recombination of materials and imagery.” Catherine’s work has been collected both publicly and privately throughout the country, and she has established a strong collector base in both California and Texas where, she is considered an emerging talent to watch.
Reveille no. 10, 2012
Reveille no. 18, 2012
CATHERINE DUDLEY / Immersion Series monoprints on paper with chine colle, 20 x 16 paper size, 2012 L - R: Immersion I no. 3, Immersion III no. 3, Immersion II no. 2
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