This grouping of seven shredder monotypes was made in context of an analogous relationship between the mechanics of a paper shredder, and that of a lithographic press. The results are surprisingly rich, enabling random data to be distorted in the creation of these new works, and the concept they are founded on:

Inserting paper into a paper shredder initiates the motor to shred, via sensors that tell when to begin shredding and when to cease shredding. This action of shredding I discovered analogous to the action of the lithographic press at the Bedrock Art Editions studio, in that this press uses magnets that pinpoint where to start and end the motion of the press bed, functioning in a similar manner to the start and stop sensors of a paper shredder. Adding my data to paper in varying colors and sizes of ink dabs, which were then run through the press thereby squashed, pressed and dragged and/or pushed by the scraper bar (see image), according to where I had placed the magnets on the press bed, made the major part of the mark making of these pieces.

This process of pushing and dragging applications of printing ink yielded unexpectedly rich results, manipulated by changing the papers orientation in context to the scraper bar. As a result of applying ink, running it though the press, shifting orientation, and repeating the process, indentions from where the scraper bar came down on the paper became a discernible and a vital element of the monotypes (normally scraper bar marks are avoided by all costs by the master printer). Thus the role of the shredder has been reversed, as now the ink dabs, acting as random data, are distorted skillfully to form the image.

Courtesy of Bedrock Editions