In A Genuine Place, Lidal used the technique of frottage to rub with a pastel on the wall of the apartment where she lived in Berlin. The wallpaper is called «Rauhfasertapete», and it became common in the Bauhaus-era in the 20s in Berlin. It is still the most used wallpaper in Germany. The motif of the work is a deconstructed map showing parts of Norwegian coastline, but randomly put together in a way that fitted. 

Frottage is on one hand, a very simple method of transferring something to the paper, you might remember using it with coins when you were a kid to make money for play, or even in art school, trying out all kinds of ways to make marks on paper. But on the other hand, the technique brings forth a texture or structure with such precision. The rubbing of the pastel brings the reality to the surface of the paper, almost like a photograph, except, you can still see the mark and the line. It is a double exposure which is claiming to be true, but at the same time, reveiling that it is a drawing.  

A Genuine Place is featured in The Printmakers Ideabook. Keep reading …