I GIVE EVERYTHING AWAY, 2010

This series of six large-format hand-colored etchings was created in collaboration with publisher Benjamin Shiff in 2010, the year Louise Bourgeois died.

The artist made each etching at home directly onto copper plates covered with wax. Prints were made from these plates on different types of papers of various textures and tones. After printing, the artist colored them with ink, watercolor, pencil, and gouache. The large, vibrant, colorful images showing humans, animals, plants, or abstract forms are accompanied by short sentences, shakily handwritten in pencil by the elderly artist as if they were goodbye notes. The one alongside the last drawing reads: “I am packing my bags.”