SIEMEN DIJKSTRA

Siemen Dijkstra’s (b. 1968, Dutch) recent large reduction woodcuts, on view at Davidson Galleries during the months of December and January, reveal the artist’s mastery of the process and his passion for the lowland vistas of his home province, Drenthe, in the Netherlands. It is a land of woods, fens and moors. He likens the cutting of the blocks and layered printings, to his experience of the landscape. Dijkstra sees a relationship between the low relief surfaces of the woodcut and the flat landscapes he lives with.

The reduction woodcut process uses the same block of wood over and over, unlike the traditional woodcut method that employs separate blocks for each color. The artist cuts and prints the woodblock in stages, printing a different color on the same sheet of paper after each cutting. As successive areas of the block are cut away (reduced, hence reduction woodcut), inked and printed, the image builds in subtlety and complexity. Dijkstra and Mortensen both make effective use of the process to express their respective landscapes.

• Recent Exhibitions: Recente Houtsneden, December 2009

• Related Artists: Gordon Mortensen, Jean Gumpper, Hiroki Morinoue, Leena Jarva, Robert Patierno