Artworks

Veta Gorner RE (elected ARE 2014, RE 2016)

Middle Way

relief etching & screenprint, edition of 50

image size 30 x 20 cm

paper size 42 x 30 cm

£160 unframed

purchase here

Veta Gorner’s “Middle Way” embodies a “tightrope walk” between control and surrender, turning the etching process itself into a meditation on balance and interconnectedness. Here, the phrase, “the hand is the cutting edge of the mind,” resonates with the method. The marks laid into metal plate record every subtle move and the hand acts as a sensory organ, translating thought and feeling directly onto the plate.

The primary technique combines freehand drawing onto a copper plate and printing in relief. The work engages with a Zen paradox: the image is defined not by the ink, but by the “emptiness” of the etched grooves. Ink sits on the surface, while the grooves represent emptiness beneath - a metaphor for the “Empty Mind,” where instinctive action is free from ego. In relief etching, what is left alone is as important as what is inked, teaching us to value internal space as much as material presence. The image emerges as a boundary, defined by both absence and presence.

Veta Gorner is recognised for technical innovation and a multidisciplinary approach, combining etching, silkscreen, and lithography. She often bridges digital algorithms and traditional craft, using iPad drawing, digital manipulation, and deep-bitten zinc matrix plates to create a sculptural quality on paper. While rooted in traditional craftsmanship, her vision is contemporary, the work explores themes of transition, maternal identity, and the passage of time, using prints as visual metaphors for modern complexities, stripping away the superfluous to reveal the essential.