A woman lays across a sofa, her robe open. She is in repose, waiting, or done waiting, for something to happen. Of this linocut print, Become, UK based printmaker Ellen Von Wiegand explains, “I am drawn to the nude as a symbol of vulnerability and strength, and I am inspired by the way in which the posture of a body can offer information into the psyche of the person in the frame. I use my own body as a model, though I don’t see my prints as self portraits but rather a space where one can project their own experience and emotional reality.”
When you first see the prints of artist Ellen Von Wiegand, it is easy to mistake them as gouache paintings or even digital art. They are sharp and clean. Von Wiegand’s lines curve and sway, her blade as swift and agile as a brush. There is a clear focus on the female form, a minor poem happening in each piece. Her figures are designed of simple forms — marks and dashes round out the body from the darkness.
Von Wiegand delivers the depths of life in pure light and shadow. She gives each of her linoleum prints a sense of ease and with only a handful of lines flowing through each print, she renders the living body using only a dense plastic brick, miniature blades, and flat ink.
‘Belonging II’ by Ellen Von Wiegand
‘Belonging II’ (detail of linocut) by Ellen Von Wiegand
‘Belonging II’ (detail of print) by Ellen Von Wiegand
‘The Return’ By Ellen Von Wiegand
‘Within The Silence’ by Ellen Von Wiegand
‘Within The Silence’ (detail of linocut) by Ellen Von Wiegand
‘Trust’ by Ellen Von Wiegand
‘Become’ by Ellen Von Wiegand
An assortment of linocuts by Ellen Von Wiegand
