Axel Chaldecott

In 2022, Axel retired from a career in advertising and, after a 37-year absence, went back to Art School to rediscover the joys of printmaking. Embracing the wide range of techniques from traditional to photopolymer etching as well as silkscreen printing, he deliberately does not commit to a single technique or style. Traditional & Photopolymer Duotone Etching: Through the subtraction of colour and digital detail and the aesthetic intervention of aquatinting, repeated etching, stopping out & inking up, an image emerges suspended in the liminal space between a photograph and an illustration. An image with a ‘visual voice’ that moves beyond the analytical to engender a more interpretive emotional reading. Photogravure: Axel has created a range of prints inspired by South Korean ceramics encountered on a trip to Seoul. The shape of the vase is an aperture opening on to the local flora and fauna creating this indigo oriental aesthetic. Silkscreen: Axel has interwoven two different screen prints with each other to form one artwork. The chance overlap of one colour with multiple other colours in fluid shapes based on the female form creates these polychromatic ‘bodycapes’, flowing, changing, and pulsing.