Image: Manifold Editions, London
Manifold Editions has presented ‘Eternal Queen (Cardinal Red)’, an etching with relief printing by Bradley Theodore, as part of a release inspired by the artist’s 2017 painting of Queen Elizabeth. The print is an edition of 50 and is published by the London-based print studio in conjunction with Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee year, according to the material supplied by the publisher.
The new release belongs to a series of two versions of ‘Eternal Queen’, with the companion print ‘Eternal Queen (Cobalt Blue)’ also listed by Manifold Editions. Both works are described as etchings with relief printing and both are editioned at 50. The cardinal red version has a sheet size of 83.5 x 80.2 cm and is signed by the artist on the front and numbered on the reverse.
According to Manifold Editions, ‘Eternal Queen’ is the studio’s first publication with Bradley Theodore. The publisher says the work was made to coincide with the Platinum Jubilee year and that the edition takes Theodore’s 2017 painting of Queen Elizabeth as its point of departure. In the print, the Queen is shown in profile, “as she can be seen on the English stamp,” wearing the Diamond Diadem, and the project is framed as part of an ongoing series by the artist depicting royalty from both past and present.
Theodore is identified by the publisher as an American artist born in Turks and Caicos, with a style rooted in his early years as a graffiti artist in New York and his career as a graphic designer. Manifold Editions says his large-scale murals can be found in New York City, Tokyo, Paris and Milan, and notes portraits of cultural figures including David Bowie, Kate Moss and Anna Wintour among the subjects he has depicted. The studio also says Theodore is widely recognised for portraits that reveal the subject’s skeleton beneath the surface, a recurring device he uses to address mortality, memory and celebrity.
On the product page for ‘Eternal Queen (Cardinal Red)’, Manifold Editions says the Queen is depicted in Theodore’s expressive, graphic style, using highly saturated pigments while hinting at her skeleton underneath. The studio links that visual approach to the artist’s stated aim of “portray[ing] the energy, individuality and soul of the person.” The page also places the edition among other works by Theodore on the publisher’s site, including ‘The Last Supper’ and the cobalt blue version of ‘Eternal Queen’.
A newsletter from Manifold Editions frames the release as a behind-the-scenes look at the making of ‘Eternal Queen’, noting that the print is created through a combination of etching and six layers of relief printing. The studio directs viewers to its Instagram for a process video and lists the print among its current offerings, with enquiries handled through its London contact details. The edition details for ‘Eternal Queen (Cardinal Red)’ remain fixed at 50 sheets, with publication credited to Manifold Editions, 2022.
