What Water Leaves: the art and accident of mokulito
Robyn Blaikie, Jan Crowe, Marcus O’Donnell
Red Gallery, North Fitzroy
29 November-10December 2023

All image-making depends on the alchemy of surfaces: pen to paper, brush to canvas, hand to clay, light to emulsion. This is especially true of mokulito, an experimental form of lithography that uses plywood instead of stone as an image plate. During the inking, mokulito depends on the resistance between water and grease to create rich dark lines and marks in some areas and open spaces in others. Mokulito produces unique images with both the quality of woodblock prints - the grain of the wood is often apparent - and some of the soft line and inky granulation of traditional lithography. One of the joys and frustrations of this medium is that it is never entirely predictable.