Wade Guyton - Two New Lithographs

Wade Guyton, known for pushing the boundaries of image reproduction and digital technology with his large-scale inkjet prints on canvas, has recently produced two new lithographs for Edition VFO, both of which were created in support of the newly established Zurich Print Institute. These works reflect Guyton’s approach to image-making, which involves the reuse and recontextualization of existing imagery.

The first edition, a nine-colour lithograph, is an image of a wet painting coming out of his Epson printer, ink dripping, with the glare from the overhead studio lights and the smears from the artist’s process. Guyton often manipulates existing digital files, using tools such as inkjet printers, Photoshop, and scanners to transform and distort them. This work demonstrates Guyton’s signature technique of re-appropriation, layering, and fragmentation, emphasizing the tension between the digital and the material, and between reproduction and originality.

The second edition is an eight-colour lithograph derived from the same base image as the first but reimagined with an entirely new palette. This act of revisiting and transforming the image through different colour schemes underscores Guyton’s ongoing exploration of the changing nature of images in the digital and then the material realm. By modifying the hues and tones, he creates a new visual experience while maintaining the basic structure of the image. This technique reflects the fluidity and unpredictability of visual information in our technology-driven world, and at the same time emphasizes the artist’s deep interest in the translation of digital images through the medium of print.