Valeska Hykel // Print Club London

We are so excited to launch this collection by Valeska Hykel, the culmination of her month in residence at our Hackney studios this April.

Abstracting the traditional still life format, Valeska plays with colour, light and composition. Valeska hand paints directly onto the silkscreen which means that although the final piece is screenprinted, each print is a completely unique original artwork, blurring the boundaries between painting and printmaking. Combined with Valeska’s use of high contrast dark backgrounds, the end result is striking, like a uniquely modern take on Dutch Old Masters and their extravagant floral centrepieces.

Interest-free payment options are available, please contact the team on shop@printclublondon.com if you are interested in paying for your artwork over 10 monthly instalments.

Flying by Valeska Hykel
Unique Monoprint, £1,070 or £107 a month for 10 months with Own Art

Framed and ready in a black grain box frame.

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.