Description
Colescott somehow manages to turn the ugly race riots of the 1880s into a beautifully colorful composition of modern art.
Working in that area which he calls “..that black zone between tragedy and high comedy, where with a little pull or push one way or the other you can transmute screams into laughter…” Colescott examines the society of today, its virtues and its inequities. To strengthen satire, he juxtaposes humor and violence; to reinforce a comment on a current situation, he makes use of historical reference.
The prints show his mastery of numerous technical printing processes. Employing additive and subtractive techniques, the final result is a printed collage. He uses various methods to apply color, relying on relief and spot inking, careful wiping, and the use of stencil techniques to achieve proper color density, balance and registration.
The humor is bittersweet; the images are thought-provoking, the quality of the printmaking is outstanding.
