Advantage of Linocuts

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up," said Pablo Picasso.

Today, the popularity of linocuts is rising. The advantages that linocuts offer are indisputable, primarily in its simplicity. Indeed, it seems only ironic that the criticism linoleum printmaking once received for its utter lack of complexity - criticism which, at one point, nearly halted the medium altogether - brings about the same instance for its catching on.

Linocutting offers a straightforward technique without significant cost or risk of injury. As a result, a substantial audience can quickly become acquainted and adapted with the medium. One example stems from the story of Bradley Basch, a University of Florida student interviewed in the video below.

First introduced to linocuts in high school, Basch, a student who often felt out of place in art class, found a unique level of enjoyment in linoleum printmaking. "At first," Basch says, "I thought it was just another thing I was going to be terrible at because I was doing awful. The teacher actually said one time, 'Brad, art's not your thing. You're good at other materials like math and English.' But, I wanted to prove her wrong. And it was the one thing I got ... It's my hobby now."

The advantages of linocuts have not only inspired the school system, however. According to the Oxford University Press, "linocuts gained particular favour in poorer cultures that were less inhibited by a tradition of fine printing. In revolutionary Russia important linocuts were produced by Luubov' Popova ... In Canada in the 1920s and 1930s the linocut was more common than the woodcut."

With resounding certainty, the linocut art form knows no border, no limitation, no boundary.

View the complete transcript of the interview featured in the below video.