Skip to Main Content

Tom Marioni

Sitting in a chair, facing a wall on which three copperplates were hung vertically, Marioni repeatedly scratched the surface of each plate with an etching needle. Starting low, he would raise his arm until he could reach no higher. After the resulting print, Drawing a Line as Far as I Can Reach, was published in 1984, Marioni installed the plates in his Japanese-style bathhouse. Exposed to years of dampness and steam, they became corroded. In 1996, twelve years later, Marioni had them trimmed along their sides and issued another printed edition in umber and black; evidence of the corroded plate is visible in the mottled background.

file

Tom Marioni working at Crown Point Press, photograph by Kathan Brown, Courtesy Crown Point Press

Banner image: Detail, Susan Middleton, Requiem, 2008, color photogravure, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Kathan Brown, Courtesy Susan Middleton

Next: Yes