MASEREEL

The fourth edition of Hold the Space showcases new work by visual artist Marlie Mul, whose practice spans multiple disciplines including sculpture, painting, fashion, writing, and branding. Recurring motifs in her work include fluidity, movement, and the organic.

For Hold the Space, Mul has developed a project centered on her renewed experiment with photogravure, a technique she first explored during her residency at MASEREEL in 2023. Form Study refers to the ongoing process of exploring structure, material and technique that drives the work.

In this project Mul uses laser-cut acrylic plates instead of the more traditional copper printing plates, allowing her to cut out and combine forms more freely. Multiple plates are printed in a single press run, requiring precision in their positioning on the press. Additionally, she experiments with physically curling the paper: two separate sheets are printed, with one curled back, allowing the forms merge into a spatial, almost sculptural whole held together with pins. Here, the artist plays with the tension between shapes that nearly align perfectly, the two sheets positioned not unlike an open book. The curling element of the work enhances its spatial character, diverging from the conventional flat presentation of prints. By using pins to assemble the sheets, the work can be attached for presentation, and detached for storage and transport.

For the photogravures, Mul draws on photos she routinely takes in her studio while working on her sculptures. These photos are not necessarily meant for publishing, but serve to document the relatively slow and precise process of the techniques that she uses, as a way to record the formal choices made, to be able to look back and analyse the making process at a later stage. Here they are abstracted and ornamentally presented, paying homage to the historical aesthetics of photogravure.

With Form Study, Marlie Mul brings together her previous methodologies in an exploration of the sculptural possibilities of print. Hold the Space thus becomes a dialogue between technique, experimentation, and presentation.

Find the edition here in our bookshop. All profits go directly to the artist.