Andrew Boyle, Triskel, Cork

WITH a background in sculpture and installation, Andrew Boyle has devoted this show entirely to print making, and specifically to colography. This willingness to fluctuate between disciplines may well go some way to explaining why Boyle works with such a liberal and flexible form of print making. Basically, the colograph process involves collaging various materials, such as wallpaper, fabric, tissue paper or acrylic paint onto a metal or, in this instance, wooden plate. These textures can be modified by scoring or tearing before an impression is taken.

Boyle has used the effect to create a wide range of surface effects, including fine scratchy lines or, alternatively, wider bands of texture created by applying acrylic with a spatula. But these effects are not merely technical exercises in themselves, as they are dependent to an extent upon the formal structure of the imagery. This is largely figure-based, with various characters places within strong architectural environments. The only real deviation from this is Packman, where a group of dogs establish a near-abstract design of shapes, rendered in vivid lines of cobalt and ultramarine:

Table Manners is a suite of six prints, each a snapshot of different characters grouped together at a table under an overhead canopy, the later elements establishing a bold geometric structure. The colouring in this and other pieces is very nicely considered, employing some subtle yet striking relationships.

In Fancy Dress I-III, lilac mingles with sea green, as an interesting variegation of textures is offset against a soft background, created by the ink soaking directly into the fibre of the paper. Camouflage is a highly appropriate name for the show as a whole, since many of the figures hide behind masks, wielding various props which relate in some way to this collection of mysterious incidents.