Chris Mercier

CHRIS MERCIER Chris Mercier, artist and printmaker, born December 1951, lives and works in Reading, Berkshire (UK). He studied at Berkshire College of Art and Epsom College of Art. He then moved to Italy where he studied violin making in Cremona before working as a craftsman in Venice. He has worked many years in commercial and artists screen printing studios. As a mature student he studied Fine Art at The University of Reading and is currently studying for an MA in Fine Art printmaking at the Royal College of Art , London. He runs his own art editioning studio making multiples for artists in Reading. He is a member of the RGA and the Printmakers Council.

I describe myself as an artist/printmaker. I frequently use printing processes as a tool for creating art work. The difference between an "artist printmaker" and a "printer" is that the printmaker takes an idea, a thought to the printing machine; whereas the printer is only concerned in producing reproductions of previously created art works. It is possible to see printing technologies as just another tool in the armoury of the artist. I see thought as the essential instigator of art. I am intrigued by the device of metonymy used in visual imagery. Add to that the viral image and the virtual image, both companions to the digital age and to the internet. I am very interested in the way a work can exist on two planes, the real and the virtual, existing perhaps in a dormant mode until the virtual unfolds replicates and performs. A lot of my recent work has focused on the frontier between analogue and digital technologies, the 'in between', the 'in-between-ness'. I have previously described this as "a zone to be explored where print as an artist's medium can falter or be reborn as it comes up against the digital vehicles of dispersion". Recent Shows and Exhibitions

May 2011 – Interim WIP show Royal College of Art, Kensington, London.
May 2011 – This Time – Arjeea21 show in St Andrews Church, Caversham. Reading
April 2011 – Cafe Gallery Show 'First Exhibition' Royal College of Art Printmaking Show
October 2010 – "Parcel Fever", Nuit Blanche (W.A.F.) OpenHand Gallery, Reading.
September 2010 – "Out of Print" Printmakers Council show South Hill Park, Bracknell.
July 2010 – Reading Arts Week – New Directions, Forbury & Reading Museum.
July 2010 – "Consequences" RCA printmaking, group show at The Parfitt Gallery, Croydon.
June 2010 – "Dream Ticket" The Retreat, Reading.
June 2010 – "Please Touch" CoExist Galleries, Southend on Sea.
April 2010 - "Room to Manoeuvre" Open hand-Open space, Arjeea21
March 2010 – Café Gallery Show "Anything I Can Do You Can Do Better"– Royal College of Art & CGL Southwark Park London.
Jan - March 2010 – Reading Guild of Artists 80th annual Exhibition, Town Hall Reading.
Jan 2010 Working Drawings Exhibition – The Peacock Gallery
Nov 2009 – Man Photography Prize Exhibition (RCA)
Oct 2009 – RCA Secret – Postcard Exhibition
Oct 2009 – University of Reading 'Open Day' Art Exhibition.
Sept 2009 - Printmakers Council Show at Impact 2009, Bristol.
Sept 2009 – Art in Science Exhibition, Department of Physics, University of Reading.
June 2009 – Final BA Show at the Fine Art Dept.,University of Reading.
June 2009 – Caversham Open Studios, Reading.
July 2008 – Allotment, Arjeea21 show at The Marksman Gallery Reading.
June 2008 – RGA Corridor Exhibition at Royal Berks Hospital.
June 2008 – Caversham Open Studios Reading.

PRINTMAKERS COUNCIL

Chris Mercier