Mirroring the Real

 Posted by at 10:46 am  Atelier
Dec 072009
 

Alfredo Zalce- Posada and calveras[Lowry1] 
  Alfredo Zalco, José Guadalupe Posada and Calaveras. 1948, Woodcut 

Not a conversation in the ordinary sense of the word, but mirroring the real (the exhibition, Revolution on Paper, Mexican Prints 1910-1960 continues in Room 94 of the British Museum into 2010), a transparency that is not the real thing, for instance, look how Posada is holding his engraving tool in his left hand, reflecting the orginal 'right handed' cutting of the lithograph woodcut by the artist.

Or listen to Malcolm Lowry's six lines of dialogue in his novel Under the Volcano ([1947] Penguin Classics; 300), which have been fitted into the empty space at the top right of the lithograph woodcut image, and reflect upon who is speaking, how many voices real / imagined, including our own.