The Asia Pacific Print Club’s travelling exhibition puts the spotlight on the arduous art of printmaking

“The club’s mission is being developed as a platform for printmakers in the Asia-Pacific to connect, collaborate, and share our work with the world,” Silva said. “This can be in the form of exhibitions, residencies, workshops, affordable art fairs, print exchanges and conferences. We are now getting inquiries from as far away as New Zealand!”

Printmaking is just one of the many traditional forms of visual art and yet it continues to innovate on its own and elevate its standards, as seen in the growing number of artists delving into it, enthusiasts and collectors.

Silva quoted Phil Sanders, a renowned printmaker, from his book Prints and their Makers, to describe what she believes is the edge of printmaking over other artistic forms:

For all the creative and conceptual reasons why an artist might choose to work in print, the art marketplace reflects very different motivations. Prints are often a cost-effective way to begin collecting artwork, and they offer the opportunity for collectors to support a variety of artists at differing points in their careers. The relative affordability of prints encourages acquisition of works by young or emerging artists who are taking creative risks; at the opposite end of the spectrum, prints by more established artists whose primary work may be beyond reach enable their work to enter into a wider collecting sphere. A focus on prints makes it possible to build a collection that captures a moment in time or the span of an entire career.

The Asia Pacific Print Club is a non-profit representative organisation for printmakers, print studios, and printmaking communities across Asia Pacific. The club was founded in 2023 by a group of printmakers from Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines. The club’s mission is to provide a platform for printmakers to connect, collaborate, and share their work with the world.

The artists patiently walked through the guests in their varied printmaking processes: Jone Sibugan of Overinked Studio in multi-plate, multi-colour rubbercut relief printing; Marz Aglipay of Marz Today Studio in rubber stamp carving and printing; William Matawaran of Pasilyo Press in drypoint intaglio using tetrapak with an Open Press Project 3D-printed press; Silva in monotype printing on gel plates with acrylic paints; and Borlongan showcased rubbercut relief printing with wooden tortilla press.

“Printmaking is the only medium that offers a record of my creative process: from conceptual sketching to mark-making to plate-making to proofing, to printing, and editioning. I can record each step of the way!” shared Silva.

Silva further shared with us that she considers herself a hybrid printmaker, one who uses digital technologies like Photoshop, graphic editing, laser etching, and even 3D-printed presses and plates. Then she applies ink by hand, presses by hand if she’s doing a relief, pulls it manually when doing screenprint, and many more.

“Many people confuse printmaking with the digital realm of giclee printing, which is another medium altogether—the artist uses graphic editing after scanning original paintings and drawings... there is no inking or printing by hand and that makes the difference for print lovers and printmakers,” Silva clarified. “There is a market for both but, respectfully, printmakers are inclined to separate themselves from digital artists. There are beauty and skills, but printmakers emphasize the ‘hand’,” she continued.

In appreciating the works exhibited at the gallery, the intricacy and sophistication in the masterpieces from other countries and Filipino artists dawned upon us amid the tediousness of the process. And yet, there is satisfaction achieved—both by the artist and the viewer—in every work. Besides the artworks, the exhibition also presented the artists’ varied plates made of linoleum, tetrapak, and many more. Silva happily advised us to sign our print works with pencil—a traditional practice among printmakers and continue discovering other methods. Indeed, printmaking may be daunting but beginning artists can start somewhere, even as simple as stamps.

“I also love mashing up my printmaking with image transfers (dead Polaroid), Gocco printing (also dead), cyanotypes, layered painting and mark making on the prints, and combining the different printmaking processes on a series or edition! It’s really a beloved art form in itself,” Silva shared, showing us the countless possibilities in printmaking.

Being a correspondent and later editor of art and culture, I have already learned to distinguish fine print works and digital reproduction prints or giclée printing. One of my prized possessions is Juvenal Sansó’s Tronc 71/100 made from copperplate etching, a gift from Fundacion Sanso in 2021. So I asked Silva how many times can an artist reproduce a work in print. She said that for one reason, an artist limits the edition because of rarity. Another reason is that the plate usually deteriorates after numerous printing.

“Hand-pulled prints become desirable with limited editions that are marked and described uniquely or serially, and once we explain the processes involved, hopefully, the skills we bring to the print are appreciated even more. Contrast this to sending a digital reproduction of an original work to print on a pigment inkjet print, so flat, so pristine, so what?” Silva said.

APPC #03 is made possible through the generous support of the participating studios of APPC, Gravity Art Space and in partnership with the Metrobank Foundation and Metrobank Art & Design Excellence (MADE).

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