What did the job entail?

Pearce had his GP draw some of his blood and, using a pipette, released droplets into a tank full of water to produce the effect of an upside-down mushroom cloud of red diffusing through the water.

Photographer Richard Foster experimented with ink, water temperatures, drop heights and Pearce’s blood to create the perfect shape. The image used in the poster is the last frame of the final day, an image so sharp and evocative it needed virtually no retouching or Photoshop work.

How was it produced?

At Gavin Martin Colournet, Bird booted up Agfa Apogee Sublima screening software used for very high-resolution images to ensure the correct weight of colour on press for accurate saturation. 

The run of 150 610x915mm posters – promoting an exhibition entitled Questioning the Bomb at the Art Gallery of Maryland in the US – were printed onto 170gsm Fedrigoni Symbol Matt Plus paper using a four-colour process plus sealer varnish on a Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 102 five-colour with coater. The posters were then trimmed to size using a Polar guillotine.

What challenges were overcome?

“With fine-art printing, unlike much run-of-the-mill commercial work, the biggest challenge is to capture the spirit of the work,” said Bird. 

“We wanted to stay faithful to the original photograph and capture the richness, concentration and intensity of fresh, wet blood. Rather than just ripping it and not caring, we worked hard on the colour profiles to ensure the ink on the paper was perfect.

What was the feedback?

“Harry is absolutely thrilled and social media has been on fire with interest since its exposure on Twitter and other sites,” said Bird, who also produced a one-off giclée print on Hahnemuhle William Turner 310gsm fine art texture paper “just for Harry and just for posterity”.