Valeska Hykel
Valeska Hykel is a painter and printmaker based in Bristol. Her work is an ongoing dialogue between these two practices. Painting directly onto the screen’s mesh she creates monotypes that toy with the boundaries of painting within print. In these works, she embraces the hand of the artist — through expressive brushwork, visible pencil from drawing on the screen and allowing the scars of the process (for example, the textual components of canvas or screen-bed) to add to their narrative. Going beyond the first pull of the monotype, she often finds the finished work in the ghost print. The resulting works, with their muted colour palettes, degradation of image and echoes of the proceeding pull, are haunted versions of the originals, ingrained with their textures and history. Valeska was awarded the Rebecca Smith Prize for Printmaking. In 2022 she was selected as a ‘Top Pick’ from the Curated Hang by the directors of Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair. Valeska was Print Club London’s artist in residence in April 2023.
She graduated with an MA in Multidisciplinary Printmaking from the University of the West of England in 2022. In June 2024 she returned to Print Club London for her solo exhibition Intrusions — a new body of screenprinted monotypes and original paintings referencing 17th century still life and exploring the ongoing transparency between life, degeneration and mortality. Her work explores longing, homesickness and Panmnemism: the idea that inanimate objects hold onto memories, absorbing our trivial day-to-day, our joys and our traumas, and repeating them back in distorted echoes. Three collections available at Print Club London: the Intrusions series, the Taking It With Us 2025 floral monotypes, and the November 2025 autumnal collection.
