2.15.18: Moonflowers for Time Travelers

Feb 15, 2018

Moonflowers for Time Travelers

I'm releasing a new screenprint tomorrow as a timed edition that I am very excited about. This print has a long backstory so if you are interested continue reading after the drop information.

"Moonflowers for Time Travelers" is an 18" x 24" six color screenprint on archival Coventry Rag paper with a 1.5" border with hand deckled edges. Prints will be available in timed edition style starting Friday, February 16th at 3PM Pacific Time and ending Monday February 19th at 3PM Pacific Time. Prints will cost $75 + shipping and will be shipped flat in a protective sleeve and sandwiched between sheets of durable cardboard.

There will also be a very limited edition of 33 prints with a seventh layer of 24K gold leaf. These prints will cost $200 + shipping and will be available at the same time

www.jamesreadsmerch.com

The story behind the print: "Moonflowers for Time Travelers" began back in 2013. I created a print as an homage to Van Gogh titled "Flowers for Vincent" inspired by his Sunflowers Series. It was paired with the words "I made these flowers for you, I hope they'll do." Van Gogh is an obvious influence in the impressionistic aspects of my work and I admired his artistic abilities during my childhood, but I began to become fascinated by his life and what little is known about him. I began researching his relationship with his brother Theodorus, and the letters they wrote to each other. This was right around the same time that I started getting into Past Life Regressions as a form of meditation, which inspired my series A Thousand Years of Life and the piece Theodorus and His Miraculous Secret, a black and white linework version of Starry Night. With past life regressions I tried to force myself into Van Gogh's timeline, obviously it didn't work but it did lead to other things.

By 2016 I had experienced many past life regressions followed by lots of creative writing, like this:

The year is 1889
I have blue eyes and brown hair
we sit around a table
His hand is on my shoulder.
He smiles, something rare,
and leans in and tells me what he knows.

The year is 1890
we stand around a hole
I throw flowers down below
and look up at the starry night
smiling, knowing what I know.

The year is 1989
I have brown eyes and brown hair
I smile, something's there.
I remember what he said.

The imagination is a wild and powerful thing, and coupled with real life memories you can "recall" bizarre details like what flowers looked like on a table. You really have to be open to your imagination taking the reigns but if you believe in the collective unconscious there has to be some sort of string tying it all together.

This particular still life has come up again and again in my life, there's something about the arrangement of the flowers and the blue tablecloth that I haven't been able to get out of my mind. They seemed to exist outside of time, undying, dripping, waiting for someone.

I started "Moonflowers for Time Travelers" in January of 2018 as a 3 foot by 4 foot painting. It came to me naturally as if they were right in front of me this whole time.

After the painting was finished I had it photographed and then we digitally separated each color and translated the painting into a six layer screenprint.

For the limited edition 24K Gold Leaf prints, a seventh layer is added to the design, in which an adhesive is run through the screen. Then gold leaf sheets are applied to the adhesive areas and the excess is carefully brushed off with a goat hair brush. Photos of the gold leaf prints & process should be up before the drop.

I am happy to share with you the Moonflowers variation with you today.