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Digital Flats

Artist: McCoig, Malcolm

Digital Flats

The present work was printed at the artist's home studio, at 3 Coastguard Cottages, Findon in Aberdeenshire. The print's genesis came from the poster…

The present work was printed at the artist's home studio, at 3 Coastguard Cottages, Findon in Aberdeenshire.

The print's genesis came from the poster which McCoig had designed the previous year for the Annual Exhibition of the Aberdeen Artists' Society, and which used a digital typeface for the lettering.

By reducing the size and increasing the number of these components McCoig created the present print.

What appears at first glance therefore as a straightforward if abstracted depiction of a tower block on closer examination is seen to be made up of six columns by eight rows of the sort of digital type common on pocket calculators of the time. Each is coloured differently and each row features a sequential number consistent to each of the six bays across, going from zero on the ground floor to seven on the top one.

The print is therefore a complex piece of creativity. It was printed in seventeen colours of oil-based printing ink, this contributing to its small edition size of just 12 prints.

The printing details were explained in the catalogue to the Scottish Arts Council funded touring exhibition "Screenprinting" organised by Arthur Watson at Peacock Printmaking in 1980-81; "One hand-painted separation (outside rectangle) and 2 photographic separations (57 digital units and a selection of Letraset textures) giving three direct stencils. These were altered by hand with screenfiller for the many background blocks of colour, the baseline and shadow.

90T and 110T Polyester Monofilament screens.

The graded sky area was printed by pouring different colours onto the screen and blending them with the squeegee. Several rough proofs have to be printed and discarded before regular prints are obtained. This is commonly known as rainbow inking or split fount.

The flats were made up from digital-type units which I had previously designed for a poster advertising the Aberdeen Arts Society Exhibition 1977. There seemed to be a rash of digital watches about at the time. I reduced the original unit in size and fitted 57 together into the final sloping construction. The graded sky and very low horizon line was to accentuate the height of the flats. Each floor level is indicated numerically by varying the position of the greys within the digits. The textures were printed through a slightly finer mesh (110T). The dark entrance and shadow were printed last to try and give added depth."

The print carries a personalised gift inscription from the artist to his former student at Grays' Arthur Watson and his then wife Joyce W Cairns. McCoig had instrumental in assisting Watson get the Peacock Printmakers Workshop established in Aberdeen in 1974 and served as its Chair for a number of years.

© The Artist