Details

AJ Fosik is a Detroit-born artist whose use of intricate materials and bold colors lend his anthropomorphized figures an empathetic quality. His interest in folk art, taxidermy, and cultural rituals are clear and purposeful in his artwork and fortify the humanity that his figures communicate. Fosik’s sculptural works are hand-carved and painstakingly assembled in such a way that it is impossible to ignore their intricacy, and yet, the figures seem autonomous. The same attention to detail paid to the artist’s sculptures is applied the Shadow Projection Release prints. 

On the experience of working in print, Fosik remarks, “Obviously I work dimensionally so creating a faithful representation of my work in print form has always presented a unique challenge. When I decided on the embossing process for these prints I immediately recognized the potential, but the size and scope of what we wanted to do is way beyond what’s normally done with the technique. Fortunately I was able to find an amazing group of printers to collaborate with and I couldn’t be happier with the result.”

The process of creating the works for Shadow Projection Release was in a way its own ritual; much specificity and care went into the production of Fosik’s edition from the specialty printing process to the weight and weave of the paper. On the production of this work one of Fosik’s assistants shared, “The design was flat stamped with a gold metallic foil on the initial pass through the press. The next step added the embossed, three-dimensional texture using a hand sculpted brass die with fiberglass counter surface. This brass die was carved by hand using reference images to gauge the desired effect. Finally, a fiberglass counter was created based on the die. Upon passing through the press, the print was placed between the two surfaces while intense heat forced it into the desired shape.”

AJ Fosik

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