Richard Peacock - printmaker

Prints from ready-made stencils

I began using found objects as the stencils for my screen prints a few years ago. I carefully opened up a box which held photographic emulsion - I liked the irregular shape and used it as the basis of a layered, improvised screen print. The idea of using the box for something it was never intended for appealed to me - a last step before it is recycled.

Since then, I have regularly unfolded boxes in search of new shapes. Both simple and complex shapes appeal to me. I also like the fact that packaging is not always perfect: edges that you expect to be parallel are not and shapes are less symmetrical than you would expect - this adds an element of imperfection to an image that connects to the physical origin of the stencil. I feel this grounding is important in my work and that it distinguishing it from work designed and executed on computers.

Titles of pieces made from stencils taken from boxes often relate to words that appear on the original packaging. For example The diver rises from the ever rolling waves relates to the words "every roll" that appear on the original packaging.