Exchange, 2026

intaglio soft ground on paper, metal rod

Artwork “Exchange” is a part of the project titled “A pencil has two ends”. In the series of intaglio prints “Exchange” I talk about the ability of graphite matter to be transformed – to change into different forms depending on the conditions and to give different meanings to bodies. In the prints, I use three plane shapes to create the image – circles, hexagons and pentagons. The shapes are codes for three selected objects of the research field. Circle – cannonball. Hexagon – pencil. Pentagon – diamond. Two-dimensional shapes – encodings, regardless of their real size; I unify them all. In this case, I do not consider which branch of the graphite industry or idea is more important, but rather I arrange them into one graphite transformation system. Cannonballs, diamonds, and a pencil are equal equivalents of a position of power. For the prints, I chose the soft–ground technique, which is a variant of intaglio and, with its materiality and process, responds to both the pencil stroke and the polishing of a diamond, as well as the ability to multiply, layer, change, and destroy. The project “Pencil Has Two Ends” explores graphite as a matter and its connection to the world. The project is a study of graphite as a material and a “simple” graphite pencil. The field of research includes the use of graphite in the military and nuclear energy industries in the production of diamonds and pencils. I examine the pencil as an object, matter, and as an idea, looking from the historical, political, military, and nuclear industry perspectives. Through the hexagonal crystal system, I seek a connection with power and the power of the artist. Under extremely high pressure and temperature, graphite turns into a diamond. Diamonds a metaphor – wealth, money, fossil fuels, mines, territory. Why a pencil? The main artwork’s line of the narrative becomes a simple graphite pencil, as real, from the artist’s position and metaphorically – the everyday life, position of power equivalent. The project considers whether the one whose pencil set is the biggest is the hardest (coolest)?

Hea teada:

– Raamimine: Graafika on üldjuhul müügil raamimata kujul, kui teose kirjelduses ei ole märgitud teisiti.