Jeff Rankin
www.jeff8593.wixsite.com/jeffrankin
Facebook studio@Jeff Rankin Artist/The Albatross Studio
an artist who loves printmaking
latest project: www.vryeweekblad.com
(weekly publication using my prints online).
contact Jeff
bio and process
Having been hauled round various continents as a child by my chaotically creative mother and bemused father, perhaps I was well prepared to stumble on Printmaking as my professional passion (having seen myself studying architecture - happy now that that path was blocked!). From before and since my training (Durban / UK / MA with Stellenbosch), a myriad intense and confused experiences have informed my art-making.
No surprise, I guess, that I lean toward narrative images – often connected in series. For example, the Perlemoen Minutes woodcut series, editioned at The Caversham Press, tells a story of turbulent politics in my home village; and Sympathy for the Kennel, a series which evolved from the rich mix of domestic reflections cluttering my mind.
My work also comments on broader social issues with a South African focus, and has been exhibited widely since the 1970’s to present. Goya, Muafangejo and Hockney were among my early influences. I was particularly struck by artists like Derek Bauer and Ralph Steadman, and others who apply their fine graphic craft as political satirists. I worked as a press cartoonist and illustrator in the 1980’s & 90’s, and I am currently – with great excitement – working with the revived Vrye Weekblad. Although VWB is now exclusively online, I use Printmaking as my primary medium. A proof is made and adapted for publication; I will later be editioning the original prints for separate exhibition.
online print browser