Not Your Ordinary Woodblocks

Chen Li, Landscape with a Girl, 2002, jueban woodblock print, 55cm x 46cm (image size), Edition of 9

Chinese jueban woodblock prints are no ordinary woodblocks. To create them, the artist must use a process where each subsequent step destroys the previous one, making it impossible to go back and fix mistakes. It is no wonder that this method has been dubbed the “suicide technique”.

Chen Li, Wind Playing with the Mountains, 2008, jueban woodblock print, 58 x 60cm (image size), Edition of 13

Endulge me to illustrate jueban woodblocks through the work of my favourite master - Chen Li.

Born in 1971, Chen Li lives in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province on China’s southwestern frontier. Famous for its stunning landscapes, world heritage sites, and the vibrant mix of ethnic minority cultures, Yunnan is also considered the place of birth and development of jueban woodblock printmaking.

Chen Li, A Colourful Village House I, 2001, jueban woodblock print, 22 x 18cm (image size), Edition of 20

Taking inspiration from Yunnan’s landscapes and Buddhist philosophy, Chen Li melds east and west, always marching to the tune of his own drum. His work is characterised by the originality of his compositions, his flying stokes, and the brilliant interplay of colours and textures.

Chen Li, Dancer, 2001, jueban woodblock print, 65 x 50cm (image size), Edition of 13

His very first London exhibition with us some years ago led to his jueban woodblock print Human Buddha being acquired by The British Museum as an exceptional example of modern Chinese art.

Chen Li, Human Buddha, 2009, reduction woodblock print, 90 x 73cm (image size), Edition of 26. [Edition 15/26 is in The British Museum]

Unlike traditional Japanese woodblocks which use water-based inks and a separate woodblock for each colour of the image (which allows for multiple editions and flexibility to fix errors), the jueban technique uses a single woodblock for all colours, successively cutting and recolouring with thick, oil-based inks to create single-edition impressions whose texture is very different from their Japanese counterparts.

Another difference is the size - while ranging from large to small, jueban woodblock prints can be over a meter in height and width, requiring a very large woodblock.

Chen Li, Mountain Song II, 2009, jueban woodblock print, 46 x 33cm (image size), Edition of 10

At the end of the process the woodblock is “wasted” in the sense that it is no longer useable (hence, the single-edition). This is where the technique gets its name; jueban (绝版) roughly translates as “reduction” or ‘waste-block” printing.

Chen Li, Chickens Singing in a Village Tree, 2002, jueban woodblock print, 40 x 40cm (image size); Edition of 16

I am often asked if a woodblock print is an original artwork. It is. Despite the word “print” in its name, woodblock prints are not high quality photographs of an original artwork that are reproduced with ink-jet or laser printers.

Chen Li, Moon Over One Thousand Rivers, 2000, jueban woodblock print, 40 x 50cm (image size), Edition of 12

Woodblock printmaking involves cutting a woodblock, inking its surface, and pressing a sheet of paper against it under pressure to transfer the impression. Easier said than done. Think of an etching, but using different techniques.

You can only press one colour at a time and the sheets need to be aligned exactly each time for the design to come together. This introduces slight inconsistencies, making each print unique.

Chen Li, Girl and Universe, 2001, jueban woodblock print, 60 x 58cm (image size), Edition of 13

Since only one colour of the image can be impressed at a time and since jueban woodblocks use a single block for all colours, the colour from the previous step must be cut away before the next colour is applied.

Thus each subsequent step destroys the previous one, lending a sense of urgency to each work and allowing for only a single edition, usually ranging between 10 and 50 impressions.

Chen Li, 2007, Universe (Road to Exploration), jueban woodblock print, 50 x 40cm (image size); Edition of 50

Only opaque, oil-based inks are suitable for the process, giving jueban woodblock prints a texture similar to an oil painting.

Chen Li, Universal Flow, 2001, jueban woodblock print, 73 x 54cm (image size), Edition of 13

Chen Li defines his practice as a constant transformation, a living art. You can read more about him here: www.katrinelevin.com/artistpage-chen-li

And more of his woodblocks are here: www.katrinelevin.com/chen-li-woodblock-prints

Please contact me if you’d like to know more.