Felicitas Wetter
Coram
Etching Collage, Photography

Manual pursuits can be the most intensive, physical and, therefore, solitary of all. Viscosity Etching is just such a process, requiring as much patience as skill. This diminutive German-born artist inadvertently chose it as her life’s pursuit and appropriated new techniques to change it for her own. But that’s just where the paradox begins…

“Printmaking is about multiple, perfect copies” but Wetter defies that by continuing the process beyond its normal parameters. The multiple steps of printmaking* (plate, etch, ink, roll…) lead to a finished print, yes, but this is just the foundation for this artist’s work. Once the print is dry, she’ll either collage elements (such as other prints) and “take great courage to tear” away the edges to expose the naked paper, which makes each work unique. The guiding aphorism that “frescos aren’t perfect but have age and antiquity” inspires the process that ultimately creates an evolutionary quality to her work.

Her interest in mythology is akin to her love of opera—classical stories, fantastic garments, and vibrant and dramatic scene sequences—making for another wellspring of inspiration. To be engaged by one of her works is to hear the music, too. There is an awareness that considerable effort went into creating so fragile and intricate a thing.

Even her mezzotints are the result of thousands of dots pricked into a copper plate to create a fluid, thick imprint. Again, Felicitas views it as a springboard to add collage pieces and other elements that bring completion of a powerful, yet graceful, natural and gritty composition.