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Lars Nyberg , Swedish, b.1956

Title

Raft

Date2006

MediumDrypoint on paper

Dimensions

Plate: 13.8 × 11.8 cm

Sheet: 38 × 28.5 cm

Signedcentre right: Lars Nyberg

Credit LinePresented, 2023

Object numberNGI.2023.47

DescriptionThis is one of 27 drypoints gifted to the collection by Swedish printmaker Lars Nyberg. The prints depict a variety of subjects: street scenes, winter trees and abstract architectural features. Each image is infused with silence, emptiness and a sense of calm. The Dublin prints were begun while Nyberg was working at Graphic Studio Dublin’s premises at Green Street East in the 1990s. They depict the Dublin docklands (mainly Grand Canal and Spencer Dock) before its redevelopment. Eleven record parts of inner city Dublin including buildings in Parnell Street, Gardiner Street and Mountjoy Square. Five of the prints depict wintry trees and paths in rural Mayo and were inspired by his residency at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Ballycastle in 2000.
The date noted is the year the plate was finished, but often he began work on a plate many years earlier. He explained his method of working: ‘I made a lot of sketches and took a lot of photos so I could remember details. I never draw or scratch after photos, the idea, the ‘feeling’, will die in a way then. For me, making art involves waiting, I look upon a proof or a drawing, thinking and waiting for the idea, the feeling, to ‘develop’. Taking time for an idea to mature. I always print my copperplates myself and I use a simple steel needle for the drypoint works.’ The story behind the print, in the artist’s own words, was written in February 2024.

During long walks along Hanover Quay and around the Grand Canal Dock, I saw abandoned boats and a raft that must have been used as a platform for working on wharves or boats. A raft can be the symbol of adventure and of the future. I drew the raft and then drew a mast on it. If the Westmoreland Lock or Buckingham Lock were opened, the raft could sail out onto the Irish Sea. I printed the first proof from this plate in 2000.

Inscriptioncentre left: 54/100
centre right: Lars Nyberg