Smokehouse Below the Foothills of the Cuillins, Isle of Skye is a monotype from 2018 by American artist, Kevin Fletcher. This impression is pencil signed, titled, dated and editioned I/II. It is further inscribed: “monotype, a unique print in mixed bistre ink (ghost sky used for II).” It was printed by the artist on cream Rives BFK wove paper and the platemark measures 10-15/16 x 8-7/8 inches.
A collection of gestural lines that gently disturb a pool of dark bistre ink is all that Fletcher needs to create a stunning, moody landscape. Many months spent in the shifting fog and rain of northern Scotland’s Isle of Skye lent his work an intimate knowledge of the beauty found in cold and unforgiving places. The craggy Cuillin mountain range extends several juts of land outward, creating sea-enclosed lochs where the fog settles.
Fletcher’s style is inspired by Old Master printmakers as well as the dramatic paintings of Dutch masters; yet his execution is almost startlingly bare, with only the most minimal of movement, line, and form required to achieve the mood of the piece. This works to great effect for Fletcher who has perfected his technique for over four decades.
Kevin Fletcher was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1956. He received his BFA in printmaking and graphic design from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio in 1978 and, the following year, he attended Northern Illinois University for graduate study in printmaking and art history. In 1981, he earned his MFA in printmaking from Syracuse University. He taught drawing, printmaking, watercolor, history of printmaking, and western art history courses at the Santa Rosa Junior College in Northern California for thirty years.
Fletcher's work is represented in the collections of the Cincinnati Art Museum; City of Portland, Oregon; Cleveland Museum of Art; Jundt Museum at Gonzaga University; Library of Congress; Lowe Art Museum of Syracuse University; Martin von Wagner Museum in Wurzburg, Germany; Portland Art Museum; University of Rochester; University of Wisconsin at Waukesha; the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp and the Centrum Frans Masereel, Kasterlee, Belgium.
