How the color came to humans
The innovative Swiss printer Lorenz Boegli tells a legend from classical antiquity in contemporary screen-printing – on Pergraphica Infinite Black.
Lorenz Boegli does not look like the typical printer. Long hair, designer glasses, jeans – he’s more like a creative. Maybe it's simply proof that a rigorous printcraft and freewheeling creativity do not contradict each other.
Mondi's Pergraphica team got to know Lorenz Boegli at his 2018 presentation at the Creative Paper Conference. He presented new possibilities in screen-printing he invented, for example golden halftone images or his trademark: RGB printing.
RGB printing
As an additive colour system, RGB is actually reserved for luminous media such as screens or beamers. We are irradiated with light that adds up to the colour white. Print is a subtractive colour system, typically on white paper. The more colour you add, the darker the visual effect. Boegli's RGB print, on the other hand, is printed on black paper and blends into brilliant white. This is made possible by reflective pigments in the colours.
In 2013, using red, green and blue Spectraval pigments from Merck on a black background, I was able to produce white in the overprint of the three basic colours of additive colour mixing.
Lorenz Boegli
Of course, the Pergraphica team got excited when they heard that RGB printing can only be realized on black paper. At the same show, Mondi presented the new paper Pergraphica Infinite Black. So it was just logical to collaborate with Lorenz Boegli. After the first test in Boegli's screen printing workshop in the Swiss village of Müntschemier, it was clear that RGB printing and Pergraphica Infinite Black fit together perfectly.
Pergraphica Infinite Black lies between the poles of uncoated and coated paper due to its satin feel. It combines the advantages of both poles such as haptics and excellent printing properties such as raster image display and drying.
Lorenz Boegli
Printed and filmed
The idea of a cooperation was quickly born: Inspired by Pergraphica Infinite Black, Lorenz Boegli would design a print product that could only ever be produced with RGB printing on premium black paper. In parallel, a film would be made to document the creative process.
Lorenz Boegli was immediately enthusiastic, activating his network of creatives and finding his inspiration in classical antiquity. The story that was supposed to be told in both print and film was that of Prometheus. In this variant, though, he wouldn’t steal the fire, but the colours from the gods.
Greek mythology offers a fantastic field of practice for many explanations and glorifications. As the cradle of European culture, Greek mythology must not be forgotten.
Lorenz Boegli
Photographer Rob Lewis created pictures of the colourful pheasants and peacocks of the Natural History Museum Bern as well as Greek statues from the collection of antiquities of the University of Berne. Author (and founding member of the legendary Swiss band Stiller Has) Balts Nill reformulated the myth of Prometheus – in German and ancient Greek. Filmmaker Mathieu Gabi realized the video, accompanied by the music of accordionist and composer Mario Batkovic.
Analog printing and digital film together form one unified piece of art, which Lorenz Boegli and Mondi presented at the "Druck und Design" fair in Munich in October 2019. Together, they prove that even ancient printing processes such as screen-printing are far from exhausted, and that creativity knows no bounds – even between digital and analogue media.
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