Chris Orr Ra

The artist, printmaker and Royal Academician shows us around his London workspace.

- Anne-katrin Purkiss

We are meeting in your workshop. Is this your main workspace?

I have a studio at home in Battersea, but I needed a separate place for the printing press.

Have you got a preference for printing presses?

This is a Mitchell, it’s late 19th or early or 20th century. It’s cast iron. The weight of the roller is the key issue to get the prints to work. And that’s why you need a workshop. It’s not something you can put in your attic.

Once you have done one edition, do you keep the plate and produce second and third editions later?

When you produce an edition of prints, it’s very special. You’ve got to step back from it and say, “That’s it.” I don’t go back to it. I might reuse parts, but I’ll never do the print again.

How do you know when a work is finished?

When you get fed up with it. The print speaks to you. You set up a dialogue with the work: once it starts to form, it has a life and an identity of its own. It’s slightly different to you. It speaks back to you and you respond to it. A finished work must have conviction.

You created a series called The Miserable Lives of Fabulous Artists. Why did you become an artist?