London Original Print Week 2021

For the 2021 edition of the London Original Print Fair, BASTIAN is delighted to present Expanded Horizon, an exhibition of new and recent prints by Emma Stibbon RA (born. 1962)

Printed while in lockdown in the UK, it is fitting that Stibbon’s new graphic works seek out the vast and open horizons of Utah, Arizona and Southern California, finding sanctuary in the expansive desert terrains of the American mid-west. Working directly from sketches and photographs taken whilst in the field, Stibbon’s prints are worked up in the studio and turned into plates. Stibbon’s prints capture the fluidity and spontaneity of her drawings and act as direct representations of her travels in some of the most inhospitable and volatile places on earth.

Fascinated by landscapes in a state of flux and driven by a desire to explore nature’s impact in transforming and shaping our environment, the artist’s new prints centre on the immersive scale of the Mojave Desert, an area shaped by centuries of geological forces and volcanic activity.

First encountered during Stibbon’s residency in Death Valley with the National Parks Art Foundation in 2019 and sitting at a depth of 86m below sea level Salt Flats, Badwater Basin depicts the wide expanse of accumulated salt flats. The delicate crust forms into hexagonal shapes by the force of repeat freeze-thaw and evaporation cycles.

Untouched by the effects of light pollution, Mojave Desert Night depicts a rich, dark blue night sky densely punctuated with a milky way of stars framed by desert cacti that reach towards the night sky.

Stibbon observes ‘My interest in geological transformation and immersive landscapes that offer massive scale has taken me on several research trips to the Americas. Encountering the infinite horizons of the American mid-west put a perspective on my existence and remains imprinted on my memory.’

Emma Stibbon printing Mojave Desert Night at Ink on Paper Press