Leonor Décourt
São Paulo, Brazil
In the late 1980s I moved away from architecture to become a visual artist.
I started to draw the same image over and over. I was interested in drawing the same topic in different ways. And this process was heightened as I approached intaglio printing. I would utilise different intaglio techniques, and I would print the same image in a variety of colours, on different papers, removing more or less ink…
Gradually, I realised that exploring the greatest number of printing possibilities from a single matrix had become my theme. I was reversing one of the paradigms of printmaking: the exact repetition of the image on the plate.
I like the idea of relating a printing matrix to a human being. Every individual is a single entity, and yet they behave differently, with diverse emotional responses to different people and places. People may react differently in different situations, but they are still the same person. In intaglio printing this idea materialises through colour, shade, support and material variety. Changes may be made, but the “genotype” remains.
In addition to the features described above, I am passionate about games and jigsaw puzzles. My work has an element of play, in which the viewer is invited to step in and manipulate to a work.
I choose the images of the etching print album Same Different Ways (20 x 50 cm), to make the Combinations bookmarks, now in digital print. Like the original prints, the bookmarks can be shown individually or as a group. These bookmarks were combined, and a large number of images were produced.