Print Ed

Andrew Raftery spent two years working on Suit Shopping, cutting copper plates with an engraving chisel called a burin, before completing the print in 2002. Part of the Cleveland Museum of Art'sFresh Prints: The Nineties to Now exhibit, it was the first of his artworks to be acquired by a museum of Cleveland's size. Raftery comes to the museum May 8 for a talk in conjunction with the exhibit.

Reflections

Raftery made small sculptures of the figures and furniture and used a three-way mirror to help draw the reflections. "I set the figures in the mirror to perceive how it would work," he says. "There's no way I could make that up."

Canvas

Raftery carefully selected the paper and ink for the print. The laid paper has a ribbed texture and a light, crisp, creamy color. "It almost feels like an 18th-century paper," he says. He used a darker ink to contrast the white paper and black lines.