|Paul Laidler
Research Fellow
During the past five years Paul has been working with a succession of different artists at the CFPR to produce fine art prints using digital print technologies. Paul's specific area of research looks at comparing previous esstablished practices within the field of fine art Printmaking in-light of todays digital print technologies. By investigating and documenting the holistic nature of creating printed artifacts within a fine art context Paul has undertaken a part time PhD alongside his work at the centre.
By working adopting previous traditional benchmarks within the field of study Paul's PhD maybe best described as the role of the Master Printer in the digital age. Therefore the research will ask whether, through the increased democratisation of technology, the role is still significant. It will also examine how the Master Printer may mediate the work and whether this is still acceptable or necessary, and if so what tactics and strategies have been previously used.
During the early development of the Centre’s work with digital printing Paul became heavily involved with the development and running of the CFPR’s digital residency programme. The on going residency has generated a portfolio of prints aptly named the 'Perpetual Portfolio' and contributed to Paul's preliminary investigation concerning the holistic nature of 'digital printmaking'.
Paul’s collaborative role formulated by the Perpetual Portfolio residency has partly enabled the centre to extend its commitment towards producing editioned prints for artists. Over the past three years Paul has worked on digital print projects for artists such as Richard Hamilton, Therese Oulton, Lesley Dill, Joe Tilson, Paul Hodgson and Leo Baxendale to name but a few.
The knowledge and success gained through the residency program has enabled the Centre to grow and develop many of its current research projects in the field of digitally derived artifacts. One of these developments has been the centre’s commitment to provide greater opportunities for artists to come and produce artworks in a contemporary print studio facility.
Here artists are able to access an extensive range of technologies accompanied by the centres various specialist individuals. By offering a combination of traditional and contemporary processes the centre is adaptable to all manner of projects and production possibilities. Some of these new technologies include: laser cutting, rapid prototyping, high end digital capture, wide format inkjet printing, 3D printing and 3D scanning. The wide format digital print facility at the CFPR is essentially run and managed by Paul who has developed the facility to cater for the centre's multi-disciplinary approaches.
Paul's experience and research activity in the fine art print field has allowed him to transfer his knowledge to wide range of academic practice. Some of these academic practices have included the presentation and co-authorship of research papers and publications, lectures and talks and workshops /master classes in the holistic practice of digital print creation.
Paul also produces his own work that is informed by much of his technological activities at the centre and has been recognized both nationally and internationally through a series of juried exhibitions and publications. His work is included in collections at The V & A, Tate Britain, School of the Art Institute Chicago and The University of the Creative Arts Farnham. Paul also presents elements of his work and research through his blog, Just Press P
Contact: Paul.Laidler@uwe.ac.uk
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