Most of my works come in limited edition series. However, I also create a) unique photographic images, b) prints on unique materials such as used metal sheets, c) combinations of art photography and acrylic painting, and d) works that are framed in a special manner. When it comes to paintings with no photographic elements, please go to the Paintings portfolio.
Common for Uniques is that they exist – and can only exist – as a single piece of art. Uniques will never be reproduced.
Quite a few of the Uniques below were made as experiments: For instance, would it be possible to get this metal sheet through the inkjet printer, thicker and heavier than paper as they are? How would the pigment stick to various surfaces?
Or, how does an image change when printed on an unconventional surface? There is no white pigment in a printer; so when you print on, say, a sheet of copper, what is white in the image and would be white on a white fine art print will acquire the colour of the copper.
Exploring these aspects of printing fascinates me – also when things go wrong. One learns more from the unexpected and from what fails than from success…
In my work with the SPAR – Silk Peace Art Road – Installation from 2019, as well as the ten Combines (photo + acrylic painting) from 2020 that accompany it, I benefited a lot from what I had learned years before.
Concerning the works printed on various types of metal sheets: With one exception, they are all pigment prints created on an Epson-printer, i.e. inkjet prints; they are not created by any type of light-based method.
The metal sheets have been used before or are wastes from a local tin-smith, some have marks, scratches or notes, some are slightly bent or otherwise non-perfect (which is why I have chosen them).
The ink in inkjet printers cannot stick directly to metal surfaces. To make that possible, one must first apply one or two layers of a grounder emulsion (produced by Golden), let dry and then put the sheet through the printer as if it was a paper. This is not easy at all; metal is heavier than paper and tends to slide down or drop on its way through the printer.
A word of caution. The works in all the other portfolio are reproduced here from the same file as the final print you buy. In this portfolio, what you see are photographs of the work, since they are unique and there is no print file for the artwork in its entirety.
This difference may imply some difference in the colours and appearance here from the work you will receive when buying it. Furthermore, photographing shiny metal surfaces always represent a problem.
The brownish or whitish background you see around most of the works below is just that – a background to create contrast; they are not part of the works.
Here is a selection and, as soon as I get around to it, they will be in the shop too. Until then, if you are interested, contact me on janoberg@mac.com.
I hope you will find them interesting. And oh! – remember to move your cursor over each image to see all the details.
Created on Canson Montval Aquarelle paper. Printed paper cutout,
torn art magazine page with transfer gel, acrylic paint. 33 x 48 cm. Signed.
Printed on photo canvas and placed in an old handmade golden frame.
Print 29 x 39 cm, frame 47 x 57 cm. Signed on the verso.
An old amateur glossy oil painting on canvas taken out of its frame. On it is mounted a painted-over photograph
on photo paper, a Burundian teenager, clipping from an art magazine of Gustave Courbet’s
“The Origin of the World” (1866) and a cutout of my photography of a “Varga Girl” pinup model
next to a bike in a Kyoto flee-market. 62,5 cm x 53 cm. Signed on the verso.
Photo printed on Canson Montval Aquarelle paper which was painted over with
iridescent white. It means that it changes in accordance with the light in which
it is viewed (and therefore difficult to photograph), thus limitless images in one.
Finally, the paint was scratched lightly. 33 x 48 cm. Signed.
Image printed on Canson Montval Aquarelle fine art paper and placed in an old handmade wooden frame.
Image area 33 x 39 cm. Frame 46 x 52,5 cm. Signed on the front.
Photograph inkjet-printed on a sheet of galvanized zink after white paintbrush strokes
had been applied. As intended at the production, the paint has cracked a little over time.
40 x 51 cm. Signed also on the verso.
Inkjet print on scratched aluminium with various marks. 38 x 40 cm. Signed on the front and the verso.
Inkjet print on hammered steel. 40 x 43 cm. Signed on the front and on the verso.
Inkjet print on scratched aluminium. 46 x 51 cm. Signed on the front and the verso.
Inkjet print on Canson Montval Aquarelle fine art paper, placed in a
handmade wooden, partly golden frame. 58 x 60 cm. Signed on the front.
Inkjet-printed photograph on a sheet of zink (with marks).
29,5 x 47 cm. Signed.
Inkjet print on hammered steel that had been prepared with red and yellow
brushstrokes before the printing, 61 x 66 cm, signed.
All of these works are available in The Shop. You may see all the details, put in your basket, pay and check out in no time.
Inkjet print on thin aluminium that was first prepared by acrylic colour brushstrokes.
35 cm x 66,5 cm. Signed.
Hanging collage – cardboard, silk cloth, tapestry, photographs, magazine
cuttings and an old amateur oil painting on canvas.
68 x 145 cm. Signed.
Inkjet print on aluminium – here photographed on a glass shelf.
40 cm x 40 cm. Signed.
Printed on brushed steel by a light process but not by myself.
25 cm x 35 cm, signed on the verso
Inkjet print on steel. Sold.
Inkjet print on Canson Montval Aquarelle fine art paper, placed in handmade
6-colour wooden frame. Print area 25 x 30 cm, the outer frame 35 x 40 cm. Signed.
Inkjet print on steel. 50 x 70 cm. Signed on the front and the verso.
Inkjet print on white lacquered steel (glossy, light reflecting on its surface).
43 x 50 cm. Signed and stamped with Japanese name seal.
Below a close-up
Collage with Japanese kimono silk, torn page of cartoon book with geishas, a cut-out photo,
and grey and red lacquer – on scratched copper with marks. 28 x 28 cm. Japanese name seal on front, signed on the verso.
Inkjet print on fine art photo paper inserted in an old handmade wooden frame.
Print area 32 x 40 cm, frame 45,5 x 53,5 cm.
Signed on the front lower right corner and on the verso cover sheet.
Inkjet print on scratched steel, 32 x 35 cm. With Japanese name seal. Signed on front and on the verso.
Inkjet print on white-lacquered steel. Brushstrokes from applying emulsion are very visible.
43 x 50 cm. Signed on the front and the verso.
Inkjet print of photograph on Canson Montval Aquarelle paper and hand-coloured
– acrylic iridescent white applied to Sherman’s head and arms, the rest also acrylic paint.
59 x 42 cm. Signed on the front and on the verso.
Two-layer collage with pencil, acrylic paint, photograph on silk paper,
calligraphy torn out of an old Japanese book, bits of photo test prints with Japanese
name seal. 59 x 42 cm. The inner sheet signed in 2009, the entire work 2017.
Inkjet print on polished and scratched aluminium, 49 x 62 cm. Signed on the front.
Inkjet print on steel prepared with crayons and acrylic brushstrokes.
50 x 67 cm. Signed on the front.
Inkjet print on scratched copper. Over the years, the emulsion and pigment have interacted
with the copper and changed and darkened it. It may eventually become even darker.
On the other hand, a new depth and wonderful colours have appeared.
The light stream at the bottom is from when it was photographed. It is not inside
the work itself. 40 x 50 cm. Signed on the front and the verso.
All of these works are available in The Shop. You may see all the details, put in your basket, pay and check out in no time.