By signing each print that I produce in the manner defined herein, what I mean to signify is this: Utilizing a standardizing tool, in this case, a stencil, I willfully suppress my natural individuality signified by my signature. Further, I alter the very symbols that have, for a lifetime, been organized to similarly signify my given individuality.

I am then, no longer signified as Scott P Nadeau (hand signed).
I am now signified as theDarkwaterPress (hand stenciled).

I have therefore suppressed that which is perceived as natural to my person, and altered that which is understood as given to my person.

I practice this ritual of neutrality solely within the process of printmaking not, as it might be assumed, for the sake of general legibility and universality (in a work of art, this practice tends towards the reverse), but so that by habit and repetition, by restraint and humility, I might achieve mechanical perfection, for as a printmaker I desire to emphasize the work moreso than the art.

The connection between work and the suppression and alteration of the individual’s personality is what one might call banausic...