Fukushima 1

For the third anniversary of the Fukushima desaster a suite of several prints is being made. The first is to remind that the damaged plant still is leaking and contaminating the world. It has become a „Magic Place“ initiating various actions, investigations and decisions, some yet to come. The site itself is well documented by various high-resolution images (http://www.infiniteunknown.net), and as a suitable view for me I chose one of the  now classical aerial views:

A wikipedia diagram (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fukushima_I_nuclear_accidents_diagram.svg) has been a source of interpretation:

The NOAA-chart illustrates the continuing spill in the Pacific

When the sketch has been set up

I came across Picasso’s lino still life „under the lamp“ (1962, age 80).  The recent purchase of the British Museum including various proof stages can be seen at http://vimeo.com/81511940. In a MOMA version of the linoprint the green colour is almost black and I thought this to be the perfect setting of the power station’s  situation. The aesthetics of this still life reflects my feeling for the place from above.

 The released light stands for radiation, the red shadow zones for heat, the objects (power plant elements) are black&white.

Picasso’s reduction lino technique is well shown in Nick Morleys blog (http://linocutboy.com/picasso-and-the-linocut/) in a 2 min video (http://vimeo.com/32920527 ). I decided to use 3 plates instead of reduction to keep the chance of printing variations later on. The procedure largely adheres to a reduction approach, but some yellow-red overlaps have been introduced not possible with successive cutting.

The first yellow plate b_1s is followed by the second red plate b_2s.

The third black plate includes the lettering MAGIC PLACES in a geometric type (http://www.ffmark.com/). These types reflect a pure design based on a mathematical approach, just as one hopes for a complex system like a nuclear plant or a reprocessing facility. 

see all 3 plates