Christian Marclay
Splat
2013
Edition Variée
Screen print with hand-painting
30 hand-painted colour variations on Saunders Waterford paper
53.2 x 42.8 x 3.8 cm | 20 15/16 x 16 7/8 x 1 1/2 in.
Signed and numbered
Published by Graphicstudio, 2013
Sold framed

Created in 30 hand-painted colour variations, this screen print by Christian Marclay translates the effect of sound and onomatopoeia into a gestural, collaged composition.

Informed by research conducted at the experimental Graphicstudio in Tampa, Florida, Marclay’s Splat (2013) features a process similar to his ‘Action’ paintings (2014–15). In these works, onomatopoeia inform how paint is applied upon the canvas, which is then screen printed with collaged fragments from comic books.

For Splat, Marclay follows the logic of the eponymous word by applying a lively paint splatter to the paper surface. The resulting impact is overlaid with a screen print of an abstract image, constructed from details of comic books. Reminiscent of a broken cranium, this layered image features the titular word, denoting viscosity and physicality. Collaging paint, image and text, Marclay’s Splat expands the sound it describes while also expressing the vitality of the act of painting itself.

This edition is sold framed and will be on display at the bookshop at White Cube Bermondsey. It will be available for shipment following the closure of the forthcoming exhibition by Julie Mehretu, ‘They departed into their own country another way (a 9x9x9 hauntology)’ (September – November 2023).

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