High Tech Printmaking

Fine art posters printed using a combination of Mylar plate lithographs and high-speed CTP offset made their debut at last summer’s World Series of Poker finals. Each of the 600 signed, 24×34´´ limited edition prints is valued at $200. Another 8,000 24×36´´ retail versions sell for $30 a piece.

Painted by Minnesota native Walter Gabrielson, the original 36×48´´ oils on canvas were deconstructed and hand-rendered by the artist onto 9×12´´ red and black frosted, individual Mylar overlays. His color washes maintained subtleties in “River Rat’s” sky and water backgrounds, for example.

Production time was substantially reduced because “there was no assistance or collaboration from any other artist or chromist,” explains Karl Bornstein, principal of Cerebral Brinksmen, Gabrielson’s representative. “We can now print an entire run of solid-color, high-quality lithographic prints in one day. In the past, it would have taken at least a month to do this edition.” That’s because with stone lithography and even high-end litho prints, each spot color is printed separately, instead of putting them down inline.

To pay off, the technology gamble had to be color-true for purist Gabrielson, who received his MFA degree in painting and printmaking from Otis Art Institute (now Otis/Parsons) in Los Angeles. He learned stone lithography at Tamarind Institute’s Lithography Workshop (University of New Mexico) and was a professor at Cal. State Northridge, where he taught color theory and established a litho department.

Las Vegas Color Graphics has prepress house roots dating back 30 years and diversified into printing in the mid-1990s. To match the artist’s color palate, the printer used a germinate, partial opaque ink base from Kohl & Madden to mix intense reds. Gabrielson’s overlays were scanned on a Screen DS flatbed, and 11×14´´ proofs for each match color were output on an Epson inkjet. Then, ink drawdowns were done on the actual paper stock. Because these were not process colors simulating flat colors, only original plates were used (Kodak Positive Thermal Plates processed on a Trendsetter 800 Quantum). The separated plates were printed in two passes through a 5-color, 40´´ Komori Lithrone.

Fit and registration can get tricky when running sheets through a press on a second pass. “We had to account for stretching,” says Ron Andre, a Color Graphics account executive with 30 years of print sales experience. “There were some challenges with borders until we changed our configuration.”

The right kind of paper was critical. A FSC-certified sheet was a given for Gabrielson, whose wife is an environmental consultant. The choice was 80-lb. Solutions Cover (Carrara White, Smooth, with 96 GE brightness) from Domtar’s EarthChoice line. Andre commends the paper’s ink holdout. “It sat well on the paper, without a lot of softness,” he says. Its neutral pH and archival quality will allow these limited edition prints to last 400 to 500 years.