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An exhibition of prints by the members
of the
California Society of Printmakers
www.caprintmakers.org
October 9 - 25, 2009
Reception: Friday, October 9, 2009 / 6-10 p.m.
Sponsored by Trumer Pils
Since the very beginning of printmaking, multiple images have been used to spread
radical thought, dissent and ideology across communities. Albrecht Durer's woodcuts
revolutionized the use of the medium and have influenced European printmakers throughout
the centuries. In Japan the prints of the Ukiyo-e (pictures of the Floating World) from the
seventeenth century onwards, have taken as their subject ideas and images which have been
traditionally taboo in conservative Japanese society. The theatre, political satire, prostitution
and ephemeral beauty were all subjects depicted in these works, and the fact that they could be
mass produced quickly made them even more subversive.
During the 1930s, the era of the Depression and the New Deal, American artists
transformed printmaking into one of the decade's most exciting forms of art.
As a cheap, vital, and egalitarian means of artistic expression, prints came
close to realizing the ideal of creating "art for the
millions." The Feminist movement relied heavily upon mass produced work to spread
its ideas and aesthetics following in the footsteps of Hannah Hoch. More contemporaneously,
the graphic work of artists such as Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and Roy
Lichtenstein takes a subtle swipe and politics and gender issues, while at the
same time expanding the notion of what a "print" actually is. Rauschenberg
in particular, played with form and scale to a degree that few other artists
have within the medium. Artist's books have long been a site for intimate portrayal,
acting almost as little fetish objects where the artist can explore seduction
through the act of simply turning the page. By using the print medium in a way
that is supple and inclusive, artists can produce works of exceptional beauty
imbued with deep meaning and social relevance.
Visit www.caprintmakers.org for
more information.
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