New York Ghost

The print

New York was the first map. I made it at Reading College for an ISTD brief called Where in the World, not long after a week in the city spent photographing street signs with no particular plan for them. It got me into the ISTD. It was later entered for the Art Directors Club of New York alongside London and Amsterdam, and the three of them won a Silver Cube in 2008. There is more on how the type and the white space work across the series on About the maps.

I never released a black and white edition of New York, and never a colour one either. Only monoprints. That was not really a decision — it is just what ended up happening over time.

The monoprint

The monoprints were made at Thumbprint Editions in London. Two days with the run of a print studio and professional printmakers on hand, my own inks, paints and paper, and nothing planned beyond wanting to experiment.

This one came about playing with spray paint on the background of the paper and printing onto it while the paint was still slightly wet. It is a ghost print, a second pull from a block that had already given up most of its ink, so what went down on top came through thin and patchy. That is where the ghostly feel comes from. I like the textures in it, and that it has not come out as solid ink. It feels quite raw to me.

No two of these are the same. London is the second map in the series, and unlike this one it was editioned.