'Bulging Tuatara', also called: 'Tuatara Forming', or 'Absterix'

Krishna Reddy

Tuataras are reptiles found in New Zealand. Their name derives from the Maori language, and means "peaks on the back" and are sometimes referred to as "living fossils" or dinosaurs.

Reddy had a profound interest in the interactions of the natural world and mankind's place within. He printed this plate in many iterations, experimenting with the color and the use of viscosity printing. The composition becomes a visual statement on energy and tension, as if a cosmic birth is occuring, or a young tuatara is taking form.

Many of these early simultaneous color etchings have a variety of titles, this has at least three. In 1952 when this was done a consistant edition was almost impossible to achieve (something Reddy worked on and helped correct) and each impression was a surprise, it makes sense that as the image appeared another title would also appear. These are not works you can wait around for to find another impression that looks the same.