April Deacon, "The Idiosyncrasies of Jimmy Mountcastle"

April Deacon

The Idiosyncrasies of Jimmy Mountcastle

Archival pigment print with 4 color screenprint on Coventry Rag

Price range: $400 through $830

The Idiosyncrasies of Jimmy Mountcastle is a quirky, portrait-based print by April Deacon combining digital photo printing and silkscreen — two photographs of 20th-century sailors brought to life through a burst of hand-applied color.

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Year
2013
Edition of
50
Dimensions
28 3/4 x 21 1/4 inches
Authentication

Signed, numbered, dated, and titled on the front by the artist. All Haystack editions come with a Certificate of Authenticity.

About the Artwork

The Idiosyncrasies of Jimmy Mountcastle is a quirky, portrait-based print by April Deacon combining digital photo printing and silkscreen — two photographs of 20th-century sailors brought to life through a burst of hand-applied color.

Produced in collaboration with the artist and Forth Estate at Axelle Editions — a renowned printmaking studio active from 2005 to 2015 — each print was made using digital photo printing combined with serigraphy, a silkscreen process in which ink is pressed through a mesh screen one color at a time, building the composition layer by layer.

Curator's Note

April Deacon has a gift for finding the life in things that have been overlooked — and in The Idiosyncrasies of Jimmy Mountcastle, that gift is applied to two 20th-century sailors who might otherwise have remained anonymous figures in a forgotten photograph.

The fellow with the pipe protruding at a jaunty angle — presumably Jimmy — smiles as he grimaces toward the camera. Deacon’s sense of humor is unmistakable. Screenprinted blues, reds and greens emerge from Jimmy’s pipe and ears in cheerful geometric bursts, like a chemistry set of color superimposed onto sepia. The juxtaposition of vintage photograph and vivid, bubbly mark-making gives the old sailor an entirely new life — transforming a document of the past into something irreverent, warm and thoroughly alive.

What makes the work effective is its lightness of touch. Deacon does not overwhelm her subjects, rather she embroiders them, adding just enough color to highlight the wit and humor instilled in Jimmy Mountcastle.

About the Artist

April Deacon (b.1978) is an artist working in painting, sculpture and writing. Deacon’s art celebrates humanity and explores sense of place by shining a light on forgotten faces and overlooked communities. Artist Photo Credit: Edwin Martell @elm_st_photography

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