Utopia Editions: Lucas Arruda | October 24—November 20, 2023

A print diptych by Lucas Arruda

São Paulo–based artist Lucas Arruda worked with Parisian intaglio studio Atelier René Tazé on an edition comprising two etchings that together echo the artist’s uniquely meditative and sensorial approach to landscape painting.

Untitled

Lucas Arruda

Untitled, 2023

Single-plate etching with chine collé on Hahnemühle paper in two (2) parts

Each: 8 7/8 x 8 1/4 inches (22.5 x 21 cm)
Framed: 14 x 21 1/4 inches (35.6 x 54 cm)
Edition of 30, 10 AP

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Published by Utopia Editions, Arruda’s diptych features two single-plate etchings: one depicting a surreal landscape pulled from the artist’s own dreams, the other featuring a hazy, abstract motif that translates the artist’s site-specific light installations into print.

Arruda works on the copper plate for the abstract image featured in Untitled, 2023, at Atelier René Tazé, 2023. Photo by Matthew Avignone

Together, the two images propose an equilibrium between light and darkness, material and immaterial, fantasy and reality.

Arruda worked with master printers Bérengère Lipreau and Domitille Araï to develop the limited edition etching, in which tonal variation and a sense of luminosity complement the artist’s sensorial approach to landscape painting.

Lucas Arruda, Untitled (from the Deserto-Modelo series), 2018

Each diptych is signed by Arruda. Photo by Matthew Avignone

The first print, which illustrates a scene from Arruda’s own dreams, depicts a canoe that hovers in midair as water relentlessly drips from it into a pool beneath. A string of animal skins dangles precariously above, like a surreal memento mori.

Lucas Arruda, Untitled, 2023 (detail)

This balance of the upper and lower elements perhaps reflects my desire to find an equilibrium between dream and reality.
—Lucas Arruda

Arruda uses sandpaper on a copper plate, which is then treated with an aquatint technique to create a graded tonal effect. The areas that are more heavily buffed hold more ink, yielding a darker tone, in subtle contrast to the more lightly sanded areas. Photo by Matthew Avignone

Master printer Bérengère Lipreau mixes inks for Arruda’s prints. Photo by Matthew Avignone

Arruda examines a trial proof. Photo by Matthew Avignone

The second print features a pair of abstract rectangles that evoke the haze of shadow and the ethereal glow of light, made by gently rubbing sandpaper over the copper plate.

The composition translates the symbolism of Arruda’s site-specific light projection installations into a printed format.

Installation view, Lucas Arruda: Assum Preto, David Zwirner, Paris, 2022

In Arruda’s abstract image, one rectangle derives from negative space and the other from pigment, together representing an equilibrium between the symbolic and earthly worlds. Photo by Matthew Avignone

Lucas Arruda, Untitled, 2023 (detail)

Below the stacked rectangles is a cautionary tale derived from an indigenous Brazilian myth passed down through generations of oral storytelling. Enigmatic and haunting, Untitled orchestrates a precarious equilibrium that thrives in the liminal space between light and darkness, earth and sky, myth and reality.

Installation view, Lucas Arruda’s Untitled (2023)

Viewing Arruda’s [works] is a powerful, contemplative and, dare one say, luminous experience.
—Nicolas Trembley, Art Critic

Arruda signs the finished edition. Photo by Matthew Avignone

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A print diptych by Lucas Arruda

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A print diptych by Lucas Arruda

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