untitled, Alex Lukas

Multimedia artist Alex Lukas often incorporates a variety of processes into a single work of art. He regularly ignores the boundaries that separate artworks created using one medium from those made using another, which results in technically complex and innovative work. Lukas considers printmaking to be just one tool that he uses to create his intricate yet frequently desolate imagery. He has been known to combine screenprinting, ink drawing, watercolor painting, and even spray paint.

Etching is an intaglio printmaking technique. Intaglio includes all techniques (most commonly engraving and etching) where incisions or indentations are made in a plate to hold the ink and create lines. In etching, a metal plate is prepared with an acid-resistant ground. The artist draws lines through the ground that are ‘bitten’ and made deeper when the plate is immersed in an acid bath. Once the ground is removed, the artist applies ink to the plate that rests in the sunken lines but is wiped from the plate surface. The artist then places the plate against dampened paper and passes it through a printing press, which exerts the pressure necessary to transfer the ink in the sunken lines to the paper.
Aquatint is a type of etching that produces shaded values that create the effect of an ink or watercolor wash. The artist applies powdered resin to the metal plate and heats the plate to melt the resin. The artist then applies acid that bites channels around the resin. Deeper channels, from a longer application of acid, hold more ink and provide a deeper tonal value, while shallow channels produce lighter gray tones.

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