Donald Sultan was the first artist invited to work in STPI’s newly established printmaking and papermaking workshop in March 2002.  During a three-week period, under the artistic direction of master printer and foremost 20th century American print publisher, Kenneth E. Tyler, Sultan along with STPI’s team of printers and papermakers created two series of limited edition prints which comprises a variation of five Flowers and ten Oranges on Branches.

Contrasting his notoriously large, ‘industrial’ assemblage paintings, Sultan’s collaboration with STPI delivered a portfolio of prints which display a sensitivity defined by the materials and techniques used: shaped handmade paper layered with coloured paper pulp and delicate overlays of litho ink; jigsaw-cut woodblocks create embossed relief areas, fitting together like pieces of a puzzle; elegant flocked ‘drippings’ are paired with etched flat oranges, creating a monochromatic harmony of positive and negative spaces.

Each Flowers print is made of sprayed coloured paper pulp on shaped STPI handmade paper, using a flower-shaped stencil, with combinations of aquatint, lithography, woodcut and flocking to give unique texture to each edition.

The ten Oranges on Branches prints were translated from his drawings employing etching, aquatint, mezzotint, screen printing and flocking techniques in three different sizes.  

The prints, along with the artist’s drawings and works loaned from private collections and the Singapore Art Museum Tyler Art Collection, are presented in what is Sultan’s first major exhibition in Asia and provides a comprehensive understanding of the artist’s works on paper.

Special thanks to Singapore Art Museum, Heritage Conservation Centre of the National Heritage Board, and Lee Foundation for their generous support.