Boxed In No.2 Original Artwork

Boxed In is a collision of 1960s pop energy and urban melancholy. A young woman stands in profile, caught in a moment of introspection, surrounded by geometric shapes that feel both playful and claustrophobic. The title speaks to the tension in the composition — those vertical bars on the left, the overlapping circles like lollipops or street signs, the grid of colour that boxes her in.

The palette is fearless. Acid yellows bleed into lime greens. Hot pinks sit against deep purples. Orange and teal overlap to create unexpected tertiary tones. This is what happens when you layer transparent inks — colours mix optically on the paper, creating depths you can't achieve with flat printing. Every overlap is a decision. Every registration matters.

This is an original screenprint. Not edition one of fifty. Not number twelve of twenty. The only one. Oli pulled this piece as a unique work — a one-off exploration of colour, composition, and process. It will never be repeated.

The layering here is complex. At least ten to twelve separate screens, possibly more. Each colour required its own stencil, its own pull, its own drying time. The figure was likely built up first — that orange skin tone, the yellow and green of the dress, the dark hair. Then the background layers: the purple and teal blocks, the circular forms, the vertical stripes. The transparency of the inks means later layers don't obliterate what's beneath — they interact with it.

The paper stock anchors all that colour. Heavy weight cartridge, substantial enough to handle multiple wet layers without buckling. You can see the tooth of the paper where the ink sits, the slight texture that proves this was pulled by hand, not pushed through a digital press.

There's something very British about this piece. It has the graphic punch of 1960s London poster art — the era of Biba, of King's Road, of Central Saint Martins graduates reshaping visual culture. But it also carries a contemporary edge, that sense of urban isolation despite all the noise and colour around you. The figure isn't celebrating — she's contained, framed, boxed in by the city's geometry.

The composition plays with positive and negative space. The figure is solid, boldly rendered, while the background fragments into shapes and patterns. Those circular forms could be anything — traffic lights, balloons, thought bubbles, urban signage. The vertical bars suggest architecture, railings, the grid of city living. Everything overlaps, creating a visual rhythm that moves your eye around the frame.

This is screenprinting as fine art. Twenty-six years of knowing how inks behave, how colours interact, how to register a screen so the overlap is intentional, not accidental. Central Saint Martins taught technique, but two and a half decades in a Hertfordshire studio taught instinct.

Who is this print for? Collectors who understand that hand-pulled means unrepeatable. Once it's gone, it's gone. Own a piece of British screenprint craft.

420x594mm