Simon Ripley produces abstract monoprints on handmade Japanese papers. A monoprint has a single underlying image that is made unique through a process of hand colouring or surface alteration to the printed image. The colour is layered on the paper by means of lino or wood which gives the work its distinctly marked surface quality. The type and quality of the paper is an essential ingredient and greatly effects the end result.
Simon mostly works from simple sketched drawings which make reference to elements of the landscape, a domestic object or an iconic form. His work is made as an entirely intuitive response to these drawings and his sources are images, places, ideas, conversations half remembered.
The aim of his work is to reflect back to the world a particular way of seeing. These elements are like signs in the work which he hopes will trigger memories or other connections. These signs are in conversation with each other. They are like Japanese Haiku poems - epigrammatic, visual poems giving a wide breadth of possible interpretation.
