Artworks

John Duffin ARWS RE Elected ARE 1991, RE 1995

King’s Cross, 2024

etching, edition of 150

25 x 30cm image size

30 x 42cm paper size

£160 unframed

This new work by John Duffin was produced from drawings and sketches made around King’s Cross station at night. It is part of an ongoing series of prints of parts of London that have been important to him during his life in the city. John was born in Barrow-in-Furness, but is now living and working in London and the city has become a central part of his subject matter. Sir Peter Blake RA has described his etchings as “outstanding and exciting depictions of city life.”

From these initial quick drawings in situ made in charcoal, pencil and ink, he creates several more detailed drawings back at his studio before arriving at a composition that captures his imaginative recollection of the subject. This final image is then transferred onto polished copper by drawing with a series of needles through a wax ground, exposing the areas of the image on the copper that are then treated with ferric chloride acid. The plate is then inked up with oil-based ink, then wiped until the ink resides only in the grooves bitten by the acid. The plate is then put through an etching press against a piece of damp paper to transfer the image.

John Duffin is a member of the RE (Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers) and is also an associate member of RWS (Royal Watercolour Society).  His work is in many public collections including Victoria and Albert Museum, Museum of London, Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge, Ashmolean Museum Oxford, Arts Council Collection and many private collections in the UK and abroad. He studied BA Fine Art at Goldsmiths College in the late 1980's under Michael Craig Martin RA and studied MA Printmaking at Central St Martins under Norman Ackroyd RA.