Hello. I'm Gregory Santos, artist, and printmaker. Originally from New York City, I relocated to Denver in 2015. Thank you for having an interest in my artwork. This monoprint, titled I Suspect Professor Plum with the Rope, is a unique color trial proof for a larger series of thirty-six monoprints. That series is called Whodunit? and combines the processes of lithography and screenprint.
The iconographic imagery in the series is of the six murder weapons from the Parker Brothers® board game Clue® and directly reference the playing cards from the 1986 North American version. While Clue® was originally marketed as "The Great New Detective Game," then as "The Great New Sherlock Holmes Game,” and also "The Great Detective Game,” one of its byproducts beyond developing one’s skills of reasoning, examination and determination, was introducing the concepts of deceit, suspicion, and murder to children.
For the Whodunit? series, each of the six murder weapons: knife, lead pipe, revolver, rope, candlestick, and wrench, is printed in a different colorway. The varying colors represent and identify one of the six characters in the 1986 game: Colonel Mustard, Miss Scarlet, Mrs. Peacock, Mrs. White, Mr. Green, and Professor Plum.
The print on view in this exhibit depicts the weapon the rope for the suspected murderer Professor Plum. The two violets are screen-printed and are different from the final colors used in the Whodunit? series for the Professor Plum character, making this a unique color trial proof.
The patterns in the background of this monoprint are three different layers printed from separate photosensitive lithographic plates. The shapes are directly transcribed from a combination of items, specifically: plastic Halloween decorations (snakes and spiders), jewelry beads, and bubble wrap.
I invite you to learn more about myself and see more of my artwork at gregorysantos.com