From the Western Desert to Berlin

A Conversation with Master Printer Ulrich Kühle

Ulrich Kühle once loaded a printing press onto a truck and drove into Australia's Western Desert to work directly with Aboriginal artists in their communities. The experience of collaborations like these has shaped everything he's done since founding Keystone Editions, his printmaking workshop in Berlin, more than fifteen years ago. We spoke with him about that formative journey, what makes a successful partnership between artist and printer, and why printmaking continues to inspire him after all this time.

When you founded Keystone Editions more than 15 years ago, what vision did you have in mind?

I wanted to create a printmaking workshop where artists would feel they could work as if it were their own studio—a place where they could explore the possibilities of printmaking and create original prints.

Your training took you to New Mexico, Ireland and Australia, where you experienced very different printmaking traditions. Which of these experiences has influenced your work the most?

One particularly formative experience was working at Northern Editions in Darwin, Australia, where we collaborated mainly with Aboriginal artists. It was a completely unfamiliar cultural background for me.

Instead of waiting for artists to come to us, we packed up the presses, loaded them onto a truck and travelled into the Western Desert to work directly in the artists' communities. It was a completely different way of making art and collaborating.

My role was to contribute my technical expertise, helping artists translate their ideas into original prints. That experience fundamentally shaped how I think about the relationship between artist and master printer.

Excellent printmaking quality requires the deep technical knowledge and experience of a trained master printer. 

 

Collaboration is clearly at the heart of everything you do. What makes a successful partnership between an artist and a master printer?

The most important thing is that something new happens—that the process opens up new ways of expression, whether for the artist or for the printer. In the end, the best outcome is when the artist leaves the workshop happy with what we've created together.

That openness to experimentation seems to have shaped Keystone Editions from the very beginning. You founded your workshop in Berlin in 2010. How has the city's artistic environment influenced its development?

The work we've done in Berlin has been much more experimental than in previous workshops that I worked in.

Many artists came to us with ideas that had never been realized through printmaking before. Together, we asked ourselves: Can we make this work? Can we find a printmaking solution for this idea? That spirit of experimentation has become an important part of Keystone Editions.

Is there one project that particularly stands out to you in that regard?

One of my favourites is Bang by Arturo Herrera.

The idea came together from two different sources. At the time, there were many videos on social media showing water-transfer printing on three-dimensional objects like car wheels. Around the same time, Arturo arrived with a baking mould and asked whether we could do something with it.

'Bang' by Arturo Herrera is an example for an experimental way of exploring printmaking. 

 

Those two ideas came together, and we wondered whether this process could be adapted for fine art printmaking. In the end, we developed a way of transferring the image through a lithographic process onto a three-dimensional object.

What is the biggest misconception about printmaking that you encounter?

The biggest misconception is probably that editions in printmaking are reproductions of an original artwork, like a drawing or painting, and that there is less artistic work involved in creating an edition.

On the contrary, original printmaking means that the artworks are not reproductions. They do not exist in any other form but are made specifically for the technique, whether it’s a lithograph, etching or woodcut.

What do artists often discover about printmaking once they start working in the workshop?

If they have never done printmaking before, they often realize that working with a new medium also affects their artistic output. When an artist is occupied with getting used to new marks and new techniques, it often influences their studio practice as well, because they gain new input and new perspectives by working in a different medium.

Artists who are already familiar with printmaking, often find that working with a professional printer helps them see new things in their work and fresh inspiration. Lately, I had an artist in the workshop who discovered printmaking tools that were new to him and now also influence what he uses in his studio practice.

What advice would you give someone who is buying their first original print?

First of all, look for work that you like. Original prints come in all kinds of forms. They can be small editions or even unique works. Ask the gallerist or do research about the technique used to make sure it is really an original print and not a reproduction. Also, find out how it was produced, if the artist was directly involved, and whether the artist worked together with a professional printer. In a printmaking workshop editions are created to an exact technical standard, while artists often work more freely if they make the editions themselves.

We live in an increasingly digital world, yet printmaking continues to hold its place. Where do you see the future of the medium? And what are your hopes for Keystone Editions?

I think the future of printmaking will continue to have its ups and downs, just as it has over the past decades.

What will never change is that it is an inherently physical art form. Artists work with physical materials to create something tangible—an original work that collectors can live with and experience in person. I believe that physical quality will always remain one of the great strengths and attractions of printmaking.

As for Keystone Editions, my hope is simply that we can continue doing what we're doing today. At the same time, I'd like to help educate a new generation of printers so that this tradition of close exchange between artists and master printers continues into the future.

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About Ulrich Kühle

Ulrich Kühle is a Tamarind Trained Master Printer (TMP) and founder of Keystone Editions in Berlin. Awarded by the internationally renowned Tamarind Institute in New Mexico, the TMP qualification is considered one of the highest distinctions in the field of fine art lithography. After working in print studios across Germany, Ireland, Australia, and South Africa, he founded Keystone Editions in 2010. Since then, he has collaborated with international contemporary artists to realize original prints spanning both traditional and experimental printmaking techniques.