Cenotaph Gate Secundus

Cenotaph Gate Secundus : Series: History Hates Lovers

18x24 Lithograph, Photolithograph, ProntoPlate Lithograph on Sekishu paper - Printed Both Sides

Gate Secundus: The Counter-Form of the Cenotaph

Gate Secundus is a lithograph that acts as a conceptual mirror to my previous work, Gate Primus. While Gate Primus directly engaged with the positive form of Étienne-Louis Boullée's Cenotaph for Newton, Gate Secundus explores the inverse and mirrored geometry of that visionary monument. Created using the same novel Pronto Plate lithography methods, this print represents a continuation of my process-driven dialogue with historical architecture.

Boullée's original design for the Cenotaph was a perfect sphere—a form representing the universe and Newtonian order. In Gate Secundus, I deconstruct this ideal by focusing on its negative space. The work presents a mirrored image of the Cenotaph's internal void, as if the monument were seen from the inside out, or through a reflective surface. This approach transforms the original monument from a solid, monumental object into a dynamic space defined by absence and reflection. The lithograph becomes a meditation on the unseen, the inverse, and the spaces that frame form.

The creation of Gate Secundus uses the identical digital & Traditional printmaking techniques I developed in the first Gate and used later on the A&P doors. The Pronto Plate remained my medium of choice, allowing for the unique blend of gestural spontaneity and structured form using plotted drawings and a modified vinyl cutter (harking back to the bygone days of the architectural pen plotter). The series as a whole, therefore, becomes a comprehensive exploration of a single architectural idea through the breathtaking versatility of printmaking, viewed through two distinct yet complementary lenses.