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Politipia (English)

Politipia

Linoleogravura

Linocut

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POLITIPIA

Sérgio de Moraes
Linoleogravura - Politipia - Gravura em linóleo
Linocut - Linoprint - Linoleum engrave

The politipia, recently invented by Sérgio de Moraes, is different from engraving although it derives of it, by capturing rests of linocut impressions. Composed of residues of linocut matrixes of past works, the politipia belongs to the category of single works, and, thus, it moves away from the engraving and approaches the monotype. However, in the latter all colours are simultaneously printed, while the politipia is the result of many superimposed impressions on a single work. The politipia does not operate directly as an addition or subtraction, therefore it differs from the intaglio, the lithography and the linocut, in which it might occur. It is close to silk screen, for it presupposes screening, although it is not as predetermined as it is in the first, by the use of barriers and a squeegee, which are intended to bring a uniform result.
By emphasizing the randomic aspect of process, the politipia has sprang from the fortuitous observation of the secondary effects of the linocut impression, which requires a layer of impermeable paper intended to protect the felt, that becomes, as it was noted by Sérgio de Moraes, a second surface, that indirectly takes on a portion of the ink that flows through the interlining in which the engraving is printed. Gathering what proliferates randomly, the paper will retain the printing accidents, as those caused by the amount of pressure put on the press, or by the use of inks of different viscosities and saturation, effects that will produce a wide range of results, and thus will finally require a selection of the works by the artist, which, obviously, can't be predetermined.
As a derivation, the politipia veers away from its origin, the linocut, and becomes as opposed to it as lines and speckles, wandering and pondering or the flow and a barrier. Meanwhile, this opposition, that is clear in the beginning of the work of Sérgio de Moraes, becomes less relevant when we consider his present process of engraving and printing: the linocut has acquired, now, some properties of the politipia, such as the colorism in the interaction of the matrixes, contrast, speckles, matter. Completely free from the shapes of the linocut, the politipia allows for a wide range of graphic actions, which goes from the sharp cuts of the conventional technique to inventions without the press.

Leon Kossovitch