Alastair Keady – But is it art?

Alastair Keady is a graphic designer and screen printer based in Dublin. He first experimented with printmaking at university, when as a Visual Communications student (at the National College of Art and Design, and then the Royal College of Art) he worked with letterpress printing. However, over the following decades this side of his practice fell away as his work was focused on commercial offset. Four years ago, Alastair partook in a short introductory screen print course at Damn Fine Print in Dublin, and has been hooked on the medium ever since.

As part of his design practice, Alastair regularly creates illustrative work which is generally representational, yet on the contrary his printmaking work is mostly abstract, acting a counter to his professional work. Lots of special finishes and techniques such as gilding, bronzing, diamond dust, powder pigments, metallic, and fluoro inks that would be impractical in commercial work are included in his printmaking practice. Halftones and CMYK work are rare; “basically anything too much like the day job is avoided”. His film positives are often either home-produced, on a repurposed inkjet and PrintFab, or handmade with brush, ink roller, and tracing paper. The smaller of his prints tend to include artwork that has been computer-generated, while larger pieces are often more analogue, incorporating screen printed monoprint layers.

Alastair describes his visual language as “pretty much down to nostalgia”, taking inspiration from late sixties and early seventies art and design. His prints have the same bias as Irish art and design of the era, he describes; “Irish modernism was a bit more US/Meiesian than the UK flavour”. Patrick Scott, and Richard Gorman also loom large as influences, as do a whole host of architects, graphic designers, and typographers. Through the inclusion a plethora of modular elements, Alastair produces the impression that the elements have a life beyond the bounds of the page.

Alastair is currently working on a new project combining screen print and glass gilding, as well as a third sweetie-based series, following on from his diamond dusted Pastilles and minimal Allsorts editions.

www.but-is-it.art
@alastairkeady

Shop Alastair’s collection on Department Store here.

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