Sparkle Taffy

<p>Holographic Principle<br />
by Sonnenzimmer<br />
2021<br />
12-color screen print<br />
24 × 24 inches<br />
edition of 30<br />
—<br />
ID: A series of colorful and progressively<br />
smaller ovals sit atop on another,<br />
centered in a grey circle. The ovals are<br />
each offset from one another creating<br />
the illusion of depth. A grainy image of<br />
a flower emits from the most central<br />
oval.</p>

<p>Inverted Circumference<br />
by Sonnenzimmer<br />
2021<br />
3-color screen print with UV spot<br />
varnish<br />
18 × 24 inches<br />
edition of 25<br />
—<br />
ID: A small white stone-like object is<br />
atop a black irregular rectangle. The<br />
black rectangle is centered on large<br />
yellow background. The texture of the<br />
stone object is contrasted by the flat<br />
black and yellow surfaces.</p>

<p>Waste Matters<br />
by Sonnenzimmer<br />
2021<br />
9-color screen print<br />
with UV spot varnish and puff additive<br />
18 × 24 inches<br />
edition of 50<br />
—<br />
ID: Multi-colored textural abstraction<br />
with with definitive sections or frames.<br />
The image is made of two distinct<br />
halves. The bottom is active with<br />
charges colors and swirling<br />
abstraction. The top is quiet with a<br />
grainy and subdued gradient, which is<br />
activated by a small bright yellow<br />
square in the top right corner</p>

<p>Edge Definition<br />
by Sonnenzimmer<br />
2021<br />
5-color screen print<br />
18 × 24 inches<br />
edition of 34<br />
—<br />
ID: This primarily gray-blue image<br />
replicates a heavily worn surface. There<br />
is no clear focal point, only spikes of<br />
yellow and orange that emerge from<br />
beneath the primarily gray-blue<br />
foreground.</p>

<p>Residue of Proportions<br />
by Sonnenzimmer<br />
2021<br />
8-color screen print with puff additive<br />
18 × 24 inches<br />
edition of 34<br />
—<br />
ID: A vaguely segmented abstraction<br />
primarily gray and blue in nature. The<br />
blue undercurrent is obscured by a<br />
heavily textured gray layer that<br />
obscures it. The resulting image teeters<br />
between active movement and textured<br />
ware. Like other works in the series, it is<br />
vaguely reminiscent of an aerial<br />
landscape.</p>

<p>Shallow Perspective<br />
by Sonnenzimmer<br />
2021<br />
6-color screen print with UV spot<br />
varnish<br />
18 × 24 inches<br />
edition of 38<br />
—<br />
ID: A hazy green tinted abstraction, with<br />
grey organic shapes hovering just<br />
above an atmospheric colorfield. The<br />
barely visible colorfield image<br />
resembles an aerial landscape and and<br />
the flat grey shapes resembled cloud<br />
systems.</p>

<p>Surface Display<br />
by Sonnenzimmer<br />
2021<br />
5-color screen print<br />
18 × 24 inches<br />
edition of 24<br />
—<br />
ID: A large stonelike object sits in black<br />
environment. The surface of the stone<br />
is articulated by washes of primary<br />
colors just barely visible</p>

<p>Identity Congruence<br />
by Sonnenzimmer<br />
2021<br />
13-color screen print<br />
18 × 24 inches<br />
edition of 40<br />
—<br />
ID: A highly textured multi-colored<br />
background has remenants of<br />
constructative rectaliner frameworks.<br />
A colorful group of tightly packed<br />
shapes sits directly<br />
on top in the center of the image<br />
obscuring much<br />
of the background.</p>

10.9–12.5.21

Carrier Shell: Images on/in/of/and the Built Environment

Sonnenzimmer, Nikole Bouchard, & Milo Bonacci

Opening Reception
Saturday, October 9, 2021, 1pm to 5pm

Carrier Shell: Images on/in/of/and the Built Environment is an exhibition featuring several collaborative encounters between the experimental graphic arts studio Sonnenzimmer (Nadine Nakanishi and Nick Butcher) and the artists Nikole Bouchard and Milo Bonacci over the past two years. The artists began an ongoing exchange in 2019 while working together on the anthology Waste Matters: Adaptive Reuse for Productive Landscapes (Routledge, 2021) on which Bouchard served as editor and Sonnenzimmer as publication designers and illustrators. While developing the visual and material aspects of the publication, Sonnenzimmer established and honed an iterative image making process leading to the creation of a series of abstract graphic book plates.

As a continuation of that process, Sonnenzimmer is presenting a new series of eight screen-prints produced in their Chicago based studio. Titled Carrier Shell, the series furthers the considerations of the relationship between image and the built environment described within the pages of Waste Matters. Utilizing additive finishing techniques such as puff additive, overprinting, and UV varnishes, the prints ride the line of image and object, while condensing and expanding perceptions of depth. Each print was developed progressively, ending with Identity Congruence, a 13 color screen-print based on experiments in monotyping conducted with Bouchard and Bonacci over a 10 day visit to Sparkle Taffy’s print studio in June. The final work in the series reflects and refines the carefully achieved granular surfaces and accumulating printed effects of the series as a whole.

On the occasion of the exhibition a catalog and printed edition is being co-published by Sonnenzimmer and Sparkle Taffy. The book includes essays by Nikole Bouchard and Sonnenzimmer describing the nature and details of their ongoing work together with illustrations from Milo Bonacci, Nikole Bouchard, Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi.

The edition, Window Licked, riffs on a range of experiences and observations from Sonnenzimer’s stay in June. The 12 color screen print was produced at Sparkle Taffy in an edition of 30.