Henrik Haaland -- Master of Large Format, Single-Block Woodcuts

Background Information:

Henrik Haaland bring years of printmaking and painting experience and a startling vision of nuance and scale in his series of large-format, primarily single-block woodcuts. His style has developed through the “marriage between the given and imposed."  After accepting the dictates of organic pine wood grain patterns he "creates a series of imposed patterns (cuts & marks). The resulting image competes with the natural surface texture of the wood. His subject matter is also a duality between two worlds: the recognizable features of Colorado's Cimarron Mountains, rural eastern Dutchess County, New York, and Western Connecticut – his boyhood home - and the more foreign world of patterns and marks. 

The interpretation of the landscape and working in the large scale allows Haaland to explore the great expanse and broad scope of his immediate surroundings.  Each woodcut is designed and drawn in reverse on the 66" x 32" hand crafted woodblock.  In order to maintain the image's texture, Haaland removes the softer pulp between the heavier wood grain. He enjoys the physicality of burnishing and hand-pulling the prints rather than using a press. The process makes each numbered piece essentially a mono print, since the act of hand transferring the image results in a unique impression each time. The total effect of large scale and surface is not only dramatic, it is singular. His Colorado Series includes several woodcuts featuring the Telluride Area, including the San Juan and Cimarron Mountains.  

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