Daina Higgins
Blackbook II
From the Artist
“The Blackbook prints are made from trompe l’oeil paintings of my graffiti blackbooks from the 1990s. A blackbook is a black-covered sketchbook that graffiti artists use to sketch and practice their tags and pieces.”
Cont. below –
About the Artwork
Cont. from above –
“I carried my blackbook and a set of pencils with me everywhere as a socially awkward teenager in Ohio. At parties I sat on the couch and buried my face in the sketchbook. The blackbook is used in landscape format (to mimic walls and other surfaces) and the black cover conceals what the artist is drawing.
Blackbook II shows two pages open faced, the top page is the bleed-through of a paint marker fill-in by legendary Columbus graffiti writer Orse (RIP) who shouted out three names: two other legends FLIP and CREAR and their crew WHAT (We Hate All Toys). The bottom page is a sketch of a piece I did in the Smith Brothers Hardware building in 1996 as part of a storied graffiti battle with Metro.”
Curatorial Opinion
Executed in the trompe l’oeil style (French for “deceives the eye”), Blackbook I and Blackbook II have the appearance of opened sketchbooks, with great care taken to depict the layers of marker therein. The artist flexes highly technical painting skills and mark making, with near-photographic depictions of pocket-sized graffiti, thoughts, and coded messages.
About the Artist
Daina Higgins (b.1979, Columbus, OH) is an urban landscape painter and graffiti artist working in oil and water-based media. Her subject is the vernacular American landscape; depicting the built environment illuminated by natural and artificial light.
Read MoreAbout the Process
Haystack collaborates with traditional printmakers and digital printers to ensure each artist’s print reflects the most important aspects of their studio practice. Blackbook II was printed in collaboration with the artist and Forth Estate at Axelle Editions (a renowned printmaking studio active from 2005 – 2015). Each Archival Pigment Print was digitally printed with a lab-calibrated inkjet printer using pigment-based inks (this process is also known as Giclée printing). The 100% cotton paper has a smooth texture and the purest natural white tone available, allowing for every visual subtlety and tonal transition in the artwork to be reproduced at the highest quality.
