This work is typical of Joseph McGlennon’s
practice in that it shows exotic animals within an exotic and unfamiliar landscape. The composition is deliberately unreal and was constructed using over 100 digital layers. It incorporates photographs the artist took in Madagascar, Tahiti and Singapore. McGlennon titled the work ‘Florilegium’ after a Latin term meaning to gather flowers. McGlennon’s use of the word references the growing desire across Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries to collect, record and catalogue exotic flowers and animals from around the world. McGlennon was particularly inspired by the work of naturalist Joseph Banks, who collected thousands of specimens of plants while accompanying Captain James Cook on his first Pacific voyage. The plants were recorded in a set of engravings titled Florilegium. Created and viewed in a 21st-century context, McGlennon’s work also highlights environmental concerns since the majority of macaw parrots are now endangered in the wild and many are extinct.
(2016)
Also known as Giclee prints or bubble-jet prints, pigment ink-jet prints are generated by computer printers from digital or scanned files using dye-based or pigment-based inks. A series of nozzles spray tiny droplets of ink onto the paper surface in a precise pattern that corresponds to the digital image file. In dye-based prints the ink soaks into the paper, whereas in pigment-based prints the ink rests and dries on top of the paper surface.
Whilst the term is broad, pigment ink-jet prints have come to be associated with prints produced on fine art papers. They are the most versatile and archival method of printing available to photographers today. A wide variety of material on which an image can be printed with such inks are available, including various textures and finishes such as matte photo paper, watercolour paper, cotton canvas or pre-coated canvas.