Surround, Karen Seapker

32 pass letterpress, 2 APs Paper size: 24 x 19 in. Paper type: Legion Stonehenge Collaborating printer: Devin Goebel at Hatch Show Print in Nashville, Tennessee. Signed by the artist. 2020. 

Limited edition of 20.

Karen Seapker’s arresting images blur the lines between abstraction and figuration, offering a glimpse into the artist’s own consciousness. Seapker’s work charts her journey as a mother and the uncertainty that comes with raising children in the present age. Her work was seen in State of the Art 2020 at the Momentary and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art from February to August 2020.

According to the artist: “For this print, I wanted to create something figurative and didn't want to scale down the figure, so instead I focused on hands. In the print, the hands are enclosing on an orb that might be the moon. Grasping at something impossible to hold. They also almost look as though they are creating a small, imagined shelter for the form. I've been thinking about making work about accepting passage as our condition and about our lack of control as mortal beings for a long time. The work can sometimes feel like practice for things I myself may not actually be ready to fully process.”