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Heliogravure

The invention of the heliogravure stands by the origins of the first photographs. In the year of 1850, Henry Fox Talbot held the first experiments that would result in the artistic process of the heliogravure. By the late years of the 19th century, the heliogravure served with utter relevance as a means to Alfred Stieglitz and Pictorialism. In Stieglitz's famous publication, entitled CamaraWork, the work of Stieglitz himself are printed, along with the art of Strand and Steichen. Regardless of the immense success that this artistic technique represents, the technological improvements in cameras, and the process of silver gel in photography led to its downfall. Heliogravure was promptly forgotten and was evoked on rare occasions by photographers. 

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The process of an heliogravure starts with a photographical image. This image is transferred to a copperplate through a photo-sensible gel. What follows is the covering of the plate with a thin layer of aquatint, and ultimately, a quadruple ferric chloride soaking of the copperplate. Finally, the plate is covered with ink and readied for an impression in Japanese or cotton-paper.

By working with this sort of technique, both the artist and the spectator can leap into past times. When achieving this timeless journey, the image is revalued and worked in a far more artisanal manner. Regardless of the nostalgia that the heliogravure distills, this technique does not stand far from contemporary art. The latter one provides languages and possibilities that match the current demands in the art market.

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Zopilote.inc was founded by Miguel Ángel Álvarez and Mike Gómez. The workshop takes the dust off from this almost-forgotten technique and looks into collaborating with and receiving the active participation of different artists. This set of artists provide a joint-artistic process and nurture an interdisciplinary experimentation to make artwork. Zopilote-inc is a flexible and propositive space within the graphic arts that looks forward to the production and coediting of work with the most promising artists of our times.  

Even though Zopilote.inc is only a year of age, we have worked with the following artists: Carla Rippey, Iñaki Bonillas, Tomás Casademunt, Santiago Borja, Coral Revueltas, Pepe Molina, Carlos Iván, Wimpy Salazar, Juan San Juan, Mabel Larrechart, Adele Koldezar y Oscar Padilla.


We are currently coediting work with Magali Lara. We are also taking an active participation in the series Maya Pucc by Tomás Casademunt. Another important project we are working on is along photographer Arturo Fuentes and with Guillermo Olguín.

When it comes to our work-team, printer Guillermo Espinoza has worked on editions of Izote with the great artists Graciela Iturbide, Pedro Meyer, Julio Galindo, George and Betty Woodman, Rob Kendrick, Bill Wittliff, Cristina Kalhno, Francisco Mata, Eniac Martínez, and Antonio Turok, amongst others. 

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In a regular basis, the technical complications that come with heliogravures is the small format prints, that rarely overcome a tabloid scale. However, Zopilote.inc has been developed with the capacity to produce prints in large formats. Currently, we work with 85x120 cm plates, and also with  240x90 cm plates .
 

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