“Fathoming the depths”
Vlado Ondrej, artist, founder and the mastermind behind the Leipzig Intaglio Printshop, seeks to use intaglio to fathom the depths of artistic vision: he is fascinated by this printmaking medium and wishes to share his knowledge of it with his contemporaries. For the origins of intaglio are elementary impressions and mechanical traces in the depths of the material – historically, intaglio originated as indelible adornments incised on metal weaponry. By rubbing ink into the grooves and impressions drawn on the printing plate, after printing, the drawing stands out in relief, coming into the light from the depths as it were.

“Inspired momentum”
The Leipzig Intaglio Printshop seeks to exploit the opportunities of printmaking, in opposition to current inclinations of art schools for instance, to downplay, if not to liquidate the “old” printmaking techniques in the name of the “new” media. Yet, Vlado Ondrej’s declared objective is not to celebrate or fetishize the purely technical attributes of intaglio, and to thus generate eternally recurring panegyrics of the same: his aim is simply to inspire artists to create works of contemporary art, in a professional atmosphere inducing independent experimental research.

(Oliver Kossack)