01 Feb Ones to Watch: Anne Moore

Using a kind of Asemic writing — marks and lines that refer to an abstract language, like a direct line into the subconscious — Anne Moore reveals feelings and ideas rather than words or symbols. Decipherable with an open heart and an unfiltered mind, monoprints speak to universal subjects by not trying to say anything specific.

“I’m trying to create something visually appealing,” she says of her one-of-a-kind, original monoprints. “I’m interested in writing systems, other languages. Even though we don’t know what they’re saying, the marks are beautiful.”

At times, the pieces feel as if they reach across our inability to express the things we need to say and embrace the hard histories, the whispers of dreams, the fierce thresholds. And in that kind of care, we feel safe.

Moore makes linocuts that, with ink and her monoprint press, come across like script.

“I do it for the marks,” she says. “It also signifies a dialogue, the idea of language and how we communicate on a two-dimensional plane. Sometimes I’ll listen to a language I don’t understand and there’s still beauty in it. It’s the same for these marks.” 

Monotypes are one-of-a-kind prints created by applying inks directly onto a Plexiglas plate and then manipulating them in various ways until the plate is hand-printed on a manual printing press. They require multiple runs through the press to get the rich layering of color.

“It’s a process,” she says. “Sometimes I might use colored or textured paper, but mostly I just use a plain, white printmaking paper. Then I ink my plate a second time and use various materials to remove ink from the plate, pressing into the ink, which will develop texture. It takes anywhere from two runs to 10 runs. Every layer is a problem solved.”

She also uses linocuts, hand-carved from a piece of linoleum, to make some of her marks.

“I love linocuts,” Moore says. “I use them to create a different kind of texture, and then bring in a few focal points for balance. I’m interested in beauty and mystery.”

And circles.

Moore’s circles float and dance. They anchor and balance. Her circles are the insides of our shared outsides.

“The circle … I seem to come back to that image,” she says. “I’m not interested in anything square. They’re not perfect circles; I don’t want them to be perfect.”

And although she doesn’t work in series, but rather considers each piece individually, because of the size of her press and her limited ink palette, they feel connected.

“Each one comes out differently,” Moore says. “My size is determined by my press, so the pieces aren’t very big. I work best when I go away to someone’s house where I can … take a smaller press with me. Someday I’d like to work bigger. But in the meantime, I’ll putter along.”

Her process is totally intuitive, trusting herself to add and subtract, to place a mark exactly where it needs to be. “I have a lot of pieces in process at one time, which is very freeing,” she says. “I’m not dependent on the reward of finishing anything. If something doesn’t work I can print over it. Some of my best pieces are printed over and over again. The work just happens.”

Moore’s prints are widely collected in private homes across the country. She is represented by A Gallery Fine Art in Palm Desert, California; Freed Gallery in Lincoln City, Oregon; Sandstone Gallery Laguna in Laguna Beach, California; and Westervelt Fine Art in Laguna Niguel, California.