Orpheus and the Sirens 1983

James Lesesne Wells made this print called 'Orpheus and the Sirens' using woodcut, those satisfyingly chunky blocks of colour. I can just picture him, sleeves rolled up, carefully carving out those lines, thinking hard about the story he wanted to tell. Wells really went for it with colour; acid greens crashing up against deep blacks, that pop of blue in the water. It’s such a dramatic scene, with the boat tilting precariously and the figures caught in this moment of intense drama. I’m imagining he’s trying to convey the emotional weight of the myth. He’s playing with how line and shape can create a feeling, a mood. You see it repeated throughout his practice, this drive to push the boundaries of printmaking and his interest in narrative. Wells is speaking to other artists; and these kinds of exchanges, across time and space, are what keep art alive, right?