Philagrafika Blog

Gomez and Gonzalez Install Doing Time/Depth of Surface

2012-01-26T14:18:00.001-05:00

Our latest exhibition, Doing Time/Depth of Surface, is being installed this week by visiting Spanish artists Patricia Gómez & María Jesús González with a team of preparators from Moore College of Art & Design. It's been busy in the Goldie Paley Gallery all week as we prepare for the January 27th opening reception at 5:30pm! We invite all of you to view the installation process live via Livestream! The opening reception as well as many other public programs will be broadcast through that link. The stream can also be accessed from the Philagrafika website.

Above is a gallery view of the prints before they were unrolled! Below is an image of one of the prints being fully extended by the artists outside of Holmesburg Prison during their artist residency in the fall of 2011.

Philagrafika Project inspired CD release

2011-11-14T11:44:00.049-05:00

Neil Leonard performing
at the Paul Robeson House
for Philagrafika, 2007

In 2007 Philagrafika commissioned jazz musician Neil Leonard to compose music to accompany Maria Magadelena Campos Pons' art installation Corner/Opera. Rethinking a Site. This installation of wallpaper, textiles and sound was created to celebrate the first phase of restoration of the Paul Robeson House--the house where he spent much of the last ten years of his life in West Philadelphia. The installation was part of the Re:Print Re:Present Re:View exhibition that Philagrafika produced as lead up to Philagrafika 2010: The Graphic Unconscious.
Below is a link to listen to recording of the live performance of 4951Walnut Street in Paul Robeson's house at 4951 Walnut Street in Philadelphia. This live performance included Neil Leonard - woodwinds; Tom Lawton - piano (Dave Douglas, Don Byron); Lee Smith - bass (Mongo Santamaria, Cedar Walton, Roberta Flack); and Craig McIver - drums (Max Roach M-Boom, Odean Pope).
http://neilleonard.com/audio/4951WalnutStreetLive.mp3

The CD of works, including the work Neil Leonard composed for the Philagrafika installation, is now out on CD. He will premiere the works at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on November 18th at 5 pm.

CD release performance:
November 18th, 2011 5:00 pm
The Philadelphia a Museum of Art
26th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA
For more information call (215) 763-8100
CD release information:
http://neilleonardevents.blogspot.com/2011/10/new-cd-marcels-window-available-on.html

Press release:
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=88506

And two articles from Cuban press just came out about the recordings this week:
http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=449196&Itemid=1
http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2011/11/11/1063534/neil-leonard-asistira-a-festival.html

Prints Gone Wild

2011-10-31T14:23:00.026-05:00

Photo of Non Grata performing at
Prints Gone Wild in St. Louis. Caitlin Perkins, 2008

Attention! Attention!

The ink-slinging, typesetting tricksters Mike Houston and Martin Mazorra of Cannonball Press, are pulling back the curtains on their sixth annual sideshow: Prints Gone Wild at Secret Project Robot in Brooklyn on Friday and Saturday.

This print-maker mayhem will unroll during Print Week when a ragtag mob of dirty printmakers descend on Brooklyn to peddle their affordable art. With prices better than a stick in the eye (everything is less than $50) you are guaranteed to find prints more healing than snake oil for your visual pleasure. Head out to Brooklyn to pick up a juicy print bursting with fresh ink and catch some live music and sip on beer.

Now, I may just be a sideshow shill, but I can attest to the value of the prints these artists are peddling, I treasure each one I’ve scored at past Prints Gone Wild—they cured my walls of beigedom with their shock of black and white graphics.

6th Annual Prints Gone Wild
Friday, November 4th 6 pm to 12 am and Saturday, November 5th from 12 to 6 pm
Location: Secret Project Robot
389 Melrose St. in Brooklyn (between Flushing and Knickerbocker Aves in Bushwisk--just a few short blocks from the Morgan Ave L stop)

Philagrafika and Cannonball Press will also be at the E/AB fair in Chelsea during Print Week, and for more information on that: http://www.philagrafika.org/portfolio-release.html

Spanish Artists Doing Time at Holmesburg Prison

2011-06-24T15:49:00.024-05:00

Dear friends:

Philagrafika is embarking in a new project, working towards the next incarnation of the festival tentatively scheduled for 2014. The project is titled Doing Time, and consists of a site-specific work of Spanish artists Patricia Gómez and María Jesús González that will come out of a six-week residency in Philadelphia. The results will be shown at Moore College of Art & Design, our longtime partner.

Patricia and María Jesús, who live in Valencia, Spain, have taken a technique called strappo, commonly used by restorers to salvage murals from walls that are deteriorating or from buildings that are to be demolished, and applied it towards artistic goals. Strappo is a complex process, but it could be described as adhering a thin fabric on the surface of a wall with water-soluble glue, waiting for it to dry, and then peeling off the fabric, which takes with it the outer surface of the wall in question (and whatever images are on it). Once on the fabric, the paint can be seen right-side up because of the transparency of the type of voile used, or from behind if attached to an opaque fabric. If needed, the paint can be attached again to another wall or canvas with glue that does not dissolve in water, and then the original fabric can be moistened, peeled away, and the glue dissolved until the painting is visible again.

The artists, who studied printmaking in the context of a conservation school in Italy, consider their work a monoprint, which it technically is, because the matrix (in this case the wall) is transferring its ink (the paint) onto a surface (the voile), and it produces a single copy. They came upon this technique when priming a canvas that they had to staple to the studio wall because they did not have a stretcher. When the primer dried and they wanted to transfer the canvas to another space, they discovered that the back had taken with it the surface of the wall, and they thought that the colored shape of the decaying wall was a beautiful image in its own right.

Soon after, they decided to try the technique in more complex projects. Learning that the El Cabañal neighborhood in Valencia was slated for demolition, they brought bolts of fabric and painstakingly took the imprints of twelve of the beautiful Modernist houses shortly before they were destroyed. The resulting print, a roll 340 m long by 2 m high (about 1116 by 7 feet!), is at the same time a print and an archive, the sole remainder of the houses that disappeared, merging space and time in a potent image that encompasses memory, history and place.

Homes in the El Cabañal neighborhood in Valencia

The possibilities of the technique as a tool for capturing time became apparent then, as the walls in architecture contain not only a defined space but bear the evidence of the passing of time in the form of marks, layers of paint and patina. We all know that when a house is "lived in" means that it has that unequivocal ambience of warmth that new or renovated spaces don't, and there is truth to the common adage "If walls could talk" in the sense of being the silent witnesses of what happens over time, which is physically and metaphorically imprinted in them. Patricia and Maria Jesús sought to capture this time imbued in interior architecture, and chose as an example one of the places where the passing of time is more palpable: the walls of a prison.

Strappo print from the Cárcel Modelo in Valencia

The Cárcel Modelo (Model prison) in Valencia had been abandoned for 15 years when the artists decided to do their intervention. The space had the kind of decay which befalls abandoned structures that nonetheless have a sturdy construction -not structural, but superficial, product of being left alone to gather dust. Gómez and González peeled away the entire walls of several of the cells, and showed the results on the central space of the prison, unfolding, as it were, the space and in so doing confronting the viewer with the actual size of the space where a human being spend years, decades at a time in solitary confinement.

Moss covered prison cell, Holmesburg Prison, Northeast Philadelphia

Holmesburg prison, in Northeast Philadelphia, opened in 1896 and functioned for just a little more than a century. Built according to radial configuration inspired on Bentham's principle of the Panopticum (where a central eye would be able to control everything around it), it has a central control tower from which depart long corridors lined with cells on both sides. The cells themselves are narrow and tall, and have skylights that let light and ventilation in. Unfortunately, being on the ground, these cells are very humid, and on the course of the fifteen years since the prison was decommissioned, the paint on the walls and even the plaster on some of them have peeled off or fallen down.

In 2000 photographer Thomas Roma produced a beautiful book, In Prison Air, which documented the derelict state of the prison (it is startling to see how the walls and markings he documented have since degraded further, some to the point of no recognition). Holmesburg has also been the location for at least three movies, Up Close & Personal (1996), Animal Factory (2000), and Law-Abiding Citizen (2009).

Prison cell, Holmesburg Prison, Northeast Philadelphia

Gomez and González' project involves salvaging the outer surfaces of some of the cells at Holmesburg. They are also looking at interesting grafitti and other types of markings on the walls. As is customary in their practice, they will let the encounter with the site direct the path their project will take. Philagrafika will be reporting on the advancement of their project through this blog. Stay tuned!

José Roca, curator, Doing Time

Slow like Molasses

2011-05-26T08:34:00.001-05:00

A sticky warm spring night at Space 1026 and the bell rang-announcing a slow moving group of sweet printmakers crawling up the gallery stairs. They had descended upon the streets of Philadelphia to promote their print show Melaza (or molasses) opening this week at James Oliver Gallery.

USA LA MELAZA 2 is the the second installment of a international print making collaboration by the five artists including Grimaldi “Barbarian” Baez, Omar “Pickle Fingers” Velazquez, Kyle “Canned-Tux” Nilan, Patrick “Print Wraith”Casey, Eli “The Word” Epstein.

They gave me a beautiful show poster (here's a pic) and told me to stop by the James Oliver Gallery on Friday. Its a popup show, and will only be up for 10 days so catch it while you can. The gallery is located at 723 Chestnut Street on the 4th floor.

Enrique Chagoya's "The Head Ache" at The Met

2011-05-18T12:14:00.029-05:00

The Headache: A Print After George Cruikshank, 2010. Enrique Chagoya

On May 12th, the New York Times published an article about an upcoming exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art entitled, “Infinite Jest: Caricature and Satire from Leonardo to Levine,” which opens on September 13.¹ Presenting a number of satirical works from the Met’s own collection of drawings and prints, the show will also include a print by Philagrafika 2010 artist Enrique Chagoya entitled, “The Headache: A Print After George Cruikshank” (2010).

Created as a part of Philagrafika 2010’s Out of Print program, “The Headache” emerged out of the Rosenbach Museum and Library’s Cruikshank collection, referring to a 19^th-century print by Cruikshank entitled, “The Head Ache.” The print itself features President Barack Obama being

tormented at the hands of the small beasts representing the trials he inherited with his presidency, such as healthcare reform, the war in

Iraq

, and the recession.

To create the print, Chagoya married a number of modern and traditional print techniques in homage to Cruikshank’s original image. After separating the orginal print into its two parts: the etching itself and the hand-colored watercolor, Chagoya first printed the watercolor digitally, and then converted the second element onto a new etching plate in which he replaced the original figure’s face with that of President Obama. Chagoya then brought these two elements back together with the assistance of Cindi Ettinger of C. R. Ettinger Studio in Philadelphia through a chine collé process. For this multi-process print, Enrique also worked with Rick Decoyte at Silicon Gallery Fine Art Prints in Philadelphia as well as Don Farnsworth at Magnolia Editions in Oakland, Ca.

The Rosenbach unveiled the newly created print alongside Cruikshank’s original, along with a hand-coloring workshop

in which visitors were invited to color black and white versions of the print.

Enrique Chagoya and visitors during the public watercoloring event at The Rosenbach Museum and Library

For the workshop, Chagoya allowed visitors to “color in our own stories” making them collaborators in his joke with his participation in Philagrafika 2010’s Out of Print series, and his piece, “The Headache: A Print After George Cruikshank” is sure to make a great addition to the Met’s upcoming exhibition as well.²

To see more images and information about Enrique Chagoya's project for the Out of Print series, see his link here to our Philagrafika 2010 festival website: http://www.philagrafika2010.org/artist/enrique-chagoya

A more in-depth discussion of Chagoya’s involvement in Philagrafika 2010, and the entire Out of Print series are available in our recently released catalogue, Philagrafika 2010: The Graphic Unconscious. The print is also available for purchase as a part of Philagrafika 2010’s Signature Edition Series. For more information, please contact Rebecca Mott at rmott@philagrafika.org

____________________________________________________________

For the full New York Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/13/arts/design/infinite-jest-caricatures-at-met-and-art-at-high-line.html?_r=3&sq=enrique+chagoya&st=cse&adxnnl=1&scp=1&adxnnlx=1305288069-JfwcuSZKjXckmhNeHQ5Gow
Perkins, Caitlin. Philagrafika 2010: The Graphic Unconscious, p. 97.

Featured Edition: The Fourteen Major Infections of Adam& Eve by Eric Avery

2011-05-13T14:17:00.015-05:00

Printmaker and Physician Eric Avery visited from Galveston, TX a few weeks ago to finish up his Philagrafika Signature Edition with The Brodsky Center for Innovative Editions (BCIE) at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. Here he is signing the edition in the company of Master Printer (BCIE) Anne Mckeown and Assistant Director (BCIE), Paul Limperopulos.

The first block for this print is printed with yellow ochre, the second block with green umber and the third block with black key. The fourth block is a text block printed with burnt Umber ink.

The Signature Edition print is a variation of the woodblock print he created for his Philagrafika 2010 piece exhibited at The Print Center, Jan-April 2010 (shown above).

His provocative images frequently appropriate from famous works of art such as Albrecht Dürer's Adam and Eve, but he also adapts imagery from old master prints of medical subjects. In the last few decades his artistic endeavors have included a performance component in which he essentially runs clinics in his art installations, testing visitors for HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, and other infectious diseases.

We thoroughly enjoyed working with Eric on this project and welcome him back to Philly anytime!

Featured Edition: The Fourteen Major Infections of Adam and Eve by Eric Avery

2011-05-12T11:23:00.002-05:00

Eric Avery was here from Galveston, Texas a few weeks ago finishing up his four color Chiaroscuro print as part of Philagrafika's Signature Edition Series. The print was created at The Brodsky Center for Innovative Editions in New Brunswick, NJ. Here, Eric is joined by Master Printer Ann McKeown and Assistant Director Paul Limperopulos while he signs the edition of 25.

The first block for this print is printed with yellow ochre, the second, with green umber and the third is black key. The fourth block is a text block printed with burnt umber ink.

This print is a variation on the one exhibited during Philagrafika 2010 at The Print Center.

The Fourteen Major Infections of Adam and Eve is available for purchase. Contact Rebecca Mott at rmott@philagrafika.org

The Graphic Unconscious Exhibition Catalogue Available March 23rd!

2011-03-02T14:23:00.039-05:00

Philagrafika is very excited to be announcing the upcoming release of its exhibition catalogue for The Graphic Unconscious!

Featuring more than 250 pages of images, illustrations, essays and contributions by the six curators, festival organizers, and artists, this catalogue is a "must have" for your library! The books will be arriving at the offices this month and will be ready for online purchase by March 23rd. Books are $30+ shipping.

Heading to St. Louis? The catalogue will be making it's first public debut at the 2011 SGC International Conference, March 16-19, where we'll be set up at a vendor's table...look for us! SGC attendees receive a 20% discount!

The catalogue was wonderfully designed by Anthony Smyrski of Smyrski Creative. Here's a sneak peak at a few page spreads:

YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES

Swoon Wheatpastes in North Philly

Drive By Press Block Party

What else is inside?!

Foreword by Judith K. Brodsky
Introduction: This Could be the Start of Something Big by Teresa Jaynes
The Graphic Unconscious or the How and Why of a Print Triennial by José Roca
Print and the Public Sphere by Sheryl Conkelton
Print in Translation: The Graphic Unconscious at the Philadelphia Museum of Art by Shelley R. Langdale
Virtually Universal: Printmaking as a Tool by John Caperton
History Repeats: Reflections from Moore College of Art & Design by Lorie Mertes
Transforming the Known into the New: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and Philagrafika 2010 by Julien Robson
In and Out of Print: Artist Projects in Historical Collections by Caitlin Perkins
Printmaking: A Colony of the Arts (2006) by Luis Camnitzer

AND MORE!!!

Stay tuned for details about ordering online and special offers! To reserve your copy, email info@philagrafika.org or call Rebecca Mott 215-701-8057

Common Press Turns Five!

2011-01-28T14:43:00.017-05:00

On January 17th, Philagrafika headed over to West Philly to celebrate the 5th anniversary of Common Press, the letterpress printing studio located at University of Pennsylvania (and one of our favorite places). It was founded on January 17th, 2006, the 300th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin's birth!

The night was laid back and festive! Friends and fans gathered and watched as Matt Neff, master printer and print shop manager, assisted eager guests in printing a free commemorative keepsake letterpress postcard for folks to take home.

For more information about the goings-on at Common Press visit their website at www.design.upenn.edu/commonpress.

Picturing the West, Yokohama Prints 1859-1870s

2010-10-14T12:44:00.021-05:00

Complete Detailed View of Yokohama Street and the Miyozaki Quarter, 1860. Utagawa Sadahide, Japanese, 1807 - 1873. Color woodcut triptych, Öban tate-e triptych (19--21): 14 1/2 x 30 inches (36.8 x 76.2 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of Eli Kirk Price, 1950.

by Caitlin Perkins, Philagrafika Program Manager

Japanese woodblock prints always seduce me—their luscious rich color, the intricate carved details reenacting an artist’s brushstroke or a delicate wash of color. No matter the context in which they are shown, they never cease to delight me, so I was very excited to go see the Picturing the West, Yokohama Prints 1859-1870s at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA).

Not as achingly perfect as the secluded world of the Ukiyo-e prints populated by Hokusai, nor perhaps as exquisite as the prints by Yoshitoshi, these Yokohama prints were produced for the mass market in Japan the moment treaties opened the country to the world. In viewing this body of work, it is very clear how these prints are the equivalent to a contemporary postcard, snapshoti or cover of a tabloid magazine.

The Ukiyo-e tradition developed in capital of Japanese Edo (modern day Tokyo). This rich tradition of woodcut has a highly stylized pictorial system of depiction, and like the Ukiyo-e, the Yokohama prints used a very specific formula. The system of production was divided into: publisher, artist, woodcarver, and printer; and they standardized the size of the woodblock and paper–printing images in sections, to speed the production in order to meet the rising demand for these prints.

The first Portuguese merchants landed by accident in Japan in 1542, followed by other western visitors including many Christian missionaries eager to convert the easterners, and as a direct result of the cultural clashes with the influx of these foreigners, Japan’s ruling Samurai class closed the country’s border in 1639 so that no foreigners could enter and Japanese citizens were forbidden to travel abroad.ii

The Yokohama show sets the scene for the opening of Japan to the West – the Tokugawa Shogunate remained in power until 1868 and negotiated the treaties, they were still in power during this time – the prints providing nearly a visual play-by-play, while the exhibition text explains the finer points of the politics of the day.

The Shogunate system in Japan had created a stable society with five classes. At the top were the Samurai, followed by peasants, artisans and merchants, but towards the middle of the 19th century, the Tokugawa government, which had held power for several centuries, was losing its hold. It had fallen victim to a steadily declining financial situation, several natural disasters, and a growing merchant class (hmm, this sounds vaguely contemporary). Conservative groups with anti-government, anti western feelings began vying for power.iii

Japan was coerced into signing treaties with five nations: Russia, United States, France, England and the Netherlands in order to open up trade and landing rights for foreign ships. When the borders were reopened to westerners in 1859, the print publishers were ready to fill the demand for information about the newly arrived visitors. From 1859-1861 there were some 500 different print images designed by 31 artists, produced by 50 or more publishers in Yokohama. These prints were frequently made in sets of five in a nod to the five nations who signed treaties with Japan.

The two galleries at the PMA are filled with almost 100 examples of Yokohama prints which document this cultural encounter of people, geography, architecture, port activity and trade. The works in the exhibition are grouped by subject matter – portraits of westerners, commerce, maps and leisure/entertainment activities. Each print contains a codified system of marks, which I had never seen broken down and identified, as it was in the wall text at the PMA. In each image, in the top right is the title of the print, below this is the censor’s mark, and at the bottom is the publishers seal, finally the artist’s name appears on a mark on the left of the image. There were often other bits of text (vocabulary glossaries that provided transliterations of foreign words into Japanese and other commentary) in the images swirling about the picture like a tabloid magazine cover bustling with activity.

A Russian Couple Holding Hands, 1861. Utagawa Kunihisa II, Japanese

, 1832 - 1891. Color woodcut, Öban tate-e: 14 1/4 x 9 3/4 inches (36.2 x 24.8 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art, Purchased with the Lola Downin Peck Fund and with funds contributed by Lessing J. Rosenwald, Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Hauslohner, Dr. Emanuel Wolff, the Derald and Janet Ruttenberg Foundation, Mrs. Edward G. Budd, Jr., and David P. Willis, 1968.

An example is the “Complete Detailed View of Yokohama Main Street and the Miyozaki Quarter” of 1860 by Utagawa Sadahide. This is a large format print made of smaller printed sheets glued together – taking advantage of the system of printer and carver. It is much like an illustrated tourist map, with its hovering point of view showing the whole city and its details of commerce and daily life. This map includes a very striking American flag in the lower left, indicating where the foreigners stayed within a walled area of the city. The “map” is pocked with hovering red signs indicating local businesses, tea houses and more, reminiscent of advertisements on diner placemats for local businesses.

These mass produced prints have delightful characteristics and misprints resulting from their production. I love the clumsiness with which the artists stylized the unfamiliar dresses of western women to create beautiful patterning. Similarly, in facial features such as facial hair, in one particular portrait from 1861 by Yoshitsuya of an Englishman with musket - his beard rendered like the stylized curls of a Chinese dragon dog.

An Englishman (with a Musket), 1861. Ichieisai Yoshitsuya, Japanese, 1822 - 1866. Color woodcut, Öban tate-e: 14 3/8 x 9 3/4 inches (36.5 x 24.8 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art, Purchased with the Lola Downin Peck Fund and with funds contributed by Lessing J. Rosenwald, Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Hauslohner, Dr. Emanuel Wolff, the Derald and Janet Ruttenberg Foundation, Mrs. Edward G. Budd, Jr., and David P. Willis, 1968.

A Frenchwoman and a Dutchman,1860. Ochiai Yoshiiku, Japanese, 1833 - 1904. Color woodcut, Öban tate-e: 14 1/8 x 9 5/8 inches (35.9 x 24.4 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art, Purchased with the Lola Downin Peck Fund and with funds contributed by Lessing J. Rosenwald, Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Hauslohner, Dr. Emanuel Wolff, the Derald and Janet Ruttenberg Foundation, Mrs. Edward G. Budd, Jr., and David P. Willis, 1968.

Often the artists were documenting places they had never seen, and incorporating architecture of far away lands like Paris – and the images take on a peculiar flattening but continue to use that hovering angled point of view.

A few examples show gorgeously clumsy typography of western words, juxtaposed against the tight calligraphy of the Japanese text. In “The Great French Soullier Circus and Equestrian Acrobatic Show” of 1871 by Utagawa Yoshiharua, a wonderful poster advertising a circus with horses and acrobats, “Soullier” is awkwardly carved as the artist struggled to form the western letters.

The Great French Soullier Circus and Equestrian Acrobatic Show,1871. Utagawa Yoshiharu, Japanese, 1828 - 1888. Color woodcut triptych, Öban tate-e triptych: 14 1/2 x 18 3/8 inches (36.8 x 72.1 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art, Purchased with the Lola Downin Peck Fund and with funds contributed by Lessing J. Rosenwald, Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Hauslohner, Dr. Emanuel Wolff, the Derald and Janet Ruttenberg Foundation, Mrs. Edward G. Budd, Jr., and David P. Willis, 1968.

Walking through the galleries, I realized that these prints were much like engravings in a natural history, or an anthropological book. For example, one of the woodcuts is a print about a Dutch couple, and includes a text that describes the Dutch as a people with white skin, red hair, high noses, and round eyes. It goes on to say they wear a great deal of clothing, are intelligent and superior to rest of world in surgery and finally they write horizontally and eat a wide range of fowl and meat.

Another print spoke about people of barbarian nations from 1861, and I realized that we (the westerners) were their barbarians. These truly resembled so many images of “savages” that I’d seen depicted in texts from the 18th and 19th centuries by western artists.

I found this show particularly interesting in the context of what is going on in Japan today in light of economic downturn, earthquakes, and political instability. The Japanese are reeling from a huge unemployment rate, which was recently 15.7%, very close to that of the United States.iv The employment system where men went to work for one company for life has disappeared, and in its wake seems to be a backlash against the foreigners perceived as taking their jobs. Martin Fackler’s article “New Dissent in Japan Is Loudly Anti-Foreign” describes a new type of ultranationalist group in Japan trying to win attention through protests. Just last December the Japanese group Zaitokukai (the equivalent to the US Teaparty) were picketing outside a Korean kindergarten wearing slogans saying “Expel barbarians.”v

This Yokohama show offers views of a time when Japan was opening, rather than shutting down cultural exchange, and perhaps it offers all of us an alternative of seeing the “other”.vi

More information

Picturing the West: Yokohama Prints 1859–1870s
August 28, 2010 - November 14, 2010
Curator, Shelley R. Langdale • Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings
Berman and Stieglitz Galleries, Philadelphia Museum of Art
You can see the prints online, if you are not able to see them in person by visiting:

http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/407.html

Also visit, participating Philagrafika 2010 artist collective Young Hae Chang Heavy Industries’ exhibition “Down in Fukuoka with the Belarusian Blues” inspired by the story from a translation from French into English and a transposition to the present of a sworn deposition made on July18, 1873, by an 18-year-old French poet, Arthur Rimbaud. Fukuoka happens to be the largest port city, geographically closest to both Korea and China. It’s a small world.

http://www.galleryhyundai.com/teaser/

i Umetaro Azechi, Japanese Woodblock Prints Their Techniques and Appreciation (Tokyo: Toto Shuppan Co., Ltd. 1963)
ii http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2128.html
iii http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2128.html
iv New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/info/japan/ Japan By Martin Fackler, Hiroko Tabuchi
v ibid

vi New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/world/asia/29japan.html New Dissent in Japan is Loudly Anit-Foreign By Martin Fackler

Space 1026: Today is Our Day

2010-08-19T12:42:00.009-05:00

The front cover, designed by Mike Gerkovich and Bonnie Brenda Scott

Recently, we had a copy of Space 1026's awesome new book Today is Our Day floating around the office. It's been getting a lot of exposure on the blog circuit, and for good reason. It was hand printed and bound at Space in an edition of 150, with each page featuring artwork from a different member.

Spread by Matt Leines and Bill McRight

The coolest part about the book are the gatefold pages dispersed throughout the book. Pages unfold into sprawling compositions, with some pages being specially cut to create a layered effect. Already a hefty-sized book at 12.5 " x 9.5 ", the book unfolds to a wingspan of 38 "!

Top Spread by Ben Woodward and Anni Altshuler. Bottom Spread by Leah Mackin

There are plenty more pictures available on the Space 1026 Flickr, but definitely check this one out in person. It's a steal at $50 from the Space 1026 Store, and it makes a fine addition to any artist book collection.

Oh and here's the list of participating artists: Michael Gerkovich, Bonnie Brenda Scott, Matt Leines, Alex Lukas, Bill McRight, Crystal Stokowski, Jacob Marcinek, Ben Woodward, Anni Altshur, Leah Mackin, Emilia Brintnall, James Ulmer, Kay Healy, Roman Hasiuk, Justin Myer-Staller, Clint Woodside, Kyle Schmidt, Thom Lessner, Chris Kline, Jason Hsu and Andrew Jeffrey Wright

Dennis McNett Shreds the Barney's Windows

2010-06-29T09:15:00.008-05:00

Brooklyn woodcut artist and SGC Take Over-er Dennis McNett has set his sights on a new dragon to slay: the world of fashion... or at least the world of fashion window displays.

McNett just installed 50 feet's worth of block print madness inside the windows of Barney's on Madison Avenue, between 60th and 61st Streets. The installation includes several of McNett's huge banner prints of patterns and creatures inspired by the high-energy of the late 80's punk and hardcore music. Along with the insanely intricate relief prints, he's designed several masks: animals, skulls, animal skulls, wolves, bats, and of course, WolfBats.

There's something really strange yet completely appropriate about the combination of stark white-emaciated mannequins dressed in high end fashion with these intense renderings of crazed beasts and other imagery inspired by mythology, punk rock, and skateboarding. They seem to be total opposites on paper, yet complement each other beautifully when seen in person.

Speaking of in person, word on the street is to check these windows out at night for the full effect, as they've been professionally lit. Check out more of Dennis McNett at wolfbat.com.

-Dan Haddigan

Cannonball Press: Woodcut Thrill Ride!

2010-06-28T09:47:00.008-05:00

If you've been following Philagrafika at all, you know two things: we're all about pushing the boundaries of the capabilities of the printed image, and that one of our consistent allies is Cannonball Press, the Brooklyn-based collaboration of artists Mike Houston and Martin Mazorra. So naturally, when Cannonball Press comes up with a project like "Woodcut Thrillride", we take notice:

"...We’re combining hand-carved woodblock prints made on a 1938 Vandercook proof press with state-of-the-art 3D digital animation software. Old school meets new school in the inimitable Cannonball monochromatic style. We’re teaming up with acclaimed jazz saxophonist John Ellis, his band Double-Wide and accomplished animator Eric Knisley to create our own 3-minute long woodcut Petrushka."

The project does have it's obstacles, and as is an inevitability for any artist, that obstacle is lack of funds. Cannonball is seeking $3500 by August 31 in order to produce the video, and they need your help.

Of course, it's not like Cannonball Press to take your money without giving back, so for your contribution, you will receive "perks" that correspond to your level of donation: For a $20 donation, you'll get a signed copy of John Ellis's album "Puppet Mischief." For $30, you reveive a Double-Wide letterpress playbill, for $40 a Double-Wide letterpress broadside and for $60, a souzasaxophone 3-color woodcut. Everyone wins.

For more about the project, and to donate, visit http://projectsite.unitedstatesartists.org/project/woodcut_thrillride_animation

-Dan Haddigan

Summer Solstice Benefit 2010 Featured Artists: Kaitlin Mosley and Katie Tackman

2010-06-22T08:46:00.009-05:00

by Marianne Bernstein

If you haven't met the two K's of Silicon Gallery yet, you're missing out on a big treat. Don't be fooled by their age (20's) or total adorableness--they are the backbone of this esteemed digital printmaking studio, a Mecca for Philadelphia artists and printmakers. Kaitlin Mosley and Katie Tackman are also excellent photographers and, like horses at a racetrack, are pawing at the gate ready for a big breakout. I've watched their evolution over the years, first at Silicon, marveling at their patience and printing expertise, and more recently as artists and friends. I believe they have discovered recently what many of us mid-career artists slowly figure out-- that encouraging one's friends and contemporaries oftentimes is exactly what's needed to take oneself as an artist more seriously, to be less self-critical, while moving forward...

Kaitlin and KT's photographs share many qualities. They both shoot film. Mostly set in natural settings, with water nearby, each image can be read as both a portrait and a landscape. They are serene, timeless, and nostalgic. The viewer often feels as if they have stumbled upon a private moment, a Cartier-Bresson "decisive moment" of harmony and balance, which a second later will change completely.

"Bambi"- Kaitlin Mosely

"Olomouc"- Katie Tackman

Katie Tackman

For Summer Solstice, Kaitlin contributed "Ship" a haunting image of a sailboat adrift in the fog, where water and sky are almost indistinguishable. KT created a stunning body of work while traveling recently in the Czech Republic, using only a Holga camera, of families on a lakeside vacation. "Olomouc", her contribution to Solstice is perfectly composed and intensely felt; a family outing so familiar, sad, haunting, and lovely, it takes my breath away.

"Ship"- Kaitlin Mosely

Recently I spoke with them about their work:

MB: When did you first pick up a camera and why? What did you photograph?

KAITLIN: I don’t remember the first picture I ever took, but guessing by the age of my siblings in the photos I must have been around 7. I still have copies of the photos I took of my sisters standing on my bed posing for glamour shots that I styled. They couldn’t have been more than 5. My mom was always photographing us (I am one of 5 kids, have a twin brother, two sisters who are 1 and ½ years younger than me and then a single sister who is 6 years younger than me.) and one of our favorite things to do would be to sit on the couch and look at photo albums with my mom as she would point us out in the pictures, younger versions of ourselves. My first camera was either my pink Vivitar (110 film!) or the Kodak instamatic (210 film), then I moved on and learned how to load actual film myself.

KT: I started photographing in high school because I was kind of an outsider. Growing up in Connecticut was very different than my life is now. I was surrounded by people who were more concerned with money and a certain social status, which made me want to escape. But the amazing thing about growing up in New England was nature is always around you. I would escape to the water or the woods and photograph my observations. Some of my first Polaroid’s were taken in Connecticut and I still remember every scene from that day because taking photos widens my senses making me super aware of details.

MB: What do you photograph now- and why?

KAITLIN: I photograph my loved ones and the places we go, or the places I go. I prefer to shoot with my cameras, which are a Minolta x700 and my Yashika for medium format. It’s just what I know, and what I like and enjoy.

KT: I photograph now because it is one of the only things that excites me about life. I am a very quiet person so I think my photography gives me a platform to speak through my eyes. I also use photography as a way of meeting people when searching along the Schuylkill for subjects to photograph. I mainly use Polaroid and instant film because I love the immediacy and the colors it produces. I have started using sepia toned Polaroid and experimental film made by the Impossible Project, which is fun to experiment with and get a different effect each time.

MB: Which photographers have influenced you?

KAITLIN: Francesca Woodman, and Wynn Bullock.

KT: Hellen van Meene, Man Ray, and William Eggleston

MB: What are your other interests? Do they affect your photographs in any way?

KAITLIN: My interests are nature, family, and friends. I like getting out of the city and I like camping a whole lot. I like being with the people I care about. I wouldn’t be able to photograph strangers the way some people do.

KT: My two passions are photography and sailing which both give me a sense of freedom. I grew up sailing and worked on a Tall Ship for a year after graduating college. The ocean both excites and scares me at the same time. I would like to explore that idea through my photographs someday. I have also been known to rip it up on the basketball court, which really has nothing to do with photography but it is just as fun!

MB: How has working at Silicon affected your photography? Have you influenced one another?

KAITLIN: I have grown fond of color since I have been at Silicon. I was primarily into black and white, in the darkroom in college and working here has definitely influenced my appreciation of color. I think you could say that I am sensitive to color, which makes me a careful and good printer for others. I also care about others and what they want to achieve with their art, so I try to let myself be a bridge for them into this process.

KT: When I started working at Silicon I became immersed in the art scene in Philly. I have met so many artists but more importantly created relationships with them outside of work. We try to support all the artists who come into the shop and in turn they support all of our work. Kaitlin, Steven, Gus and I all go to each other’s shows and we are constantly talking about our ideas and our experiences creating art. Kaitlin and I look at each other’s work and give each other advice or tell each other about shows. I think it is interesting that we have a similar style of photography but before we even knew each other. Not really in subject or technique but in feeling. I try to make my photos look timeless and I think Kaitlin just does that naturally. I admire her for that and for the personal content in her work.

MB: If the sky were the limit, what would you be doing now?

KAITLIN: I would be camping, with my loved ones, preferably on the beach. And I would be taking pictures.

KT: I would like to be traveling, exploring in the Czech Republic. In college I studied abroad in Prague and traveled throughout the country. The escape from the regular academic lifestyle and traveling allowed me to photograph for fun again. I came back with some amazing photos, which I did not pre-visualize; they just came out of me while I was exploring the pools and lakes in the country. Now I try to recreate that same imagery that I saw there.

MB: Why is Silicon special to the Philadelphia print community? What is it that Silicon offers that you can't find elsewhere here?

KAITLIN: Silicon is the information Hub for the art scene in Philadelphia. We are involved with most projects and support most artists. We do our best to be accessible to all who have an interest and we help spread the word of what is going on to those new to the city who are interested in getting more involved in the arts. There is always a dialogue here and it is always about helping others achieve their goals and meet their challenges. I think we make a lot of people happy with what we do. We print for so many people from all around, from printing paintings from William Egglestons’s cousin somewhere outside of Memphis, Tennessee who was very happy to be working with a “Kaitlin, a good southern name”, to the local and fabulous Zoë Strauss, to whom I must say 143…

KT: I think Silicon is a place where artists can get high quality digital prints and work with people who actually care about the end product. We are all artists so we know how much work our customers put into their work, so we try to give the same amount. This shop is important to the Philly art community because it connects so many people. Rick does projects with Philagrafika, Fresh Artists, Cindy Ettinger, and many other local non-profits, usually as a favor or just to help support their causes. I admire that about this company and feel good about helping out other artists in the community. Also the late Dog was what made this shop different from others. He was our mascot and friend; we will miss him dearly!

Check them out. And thank you so much, Rick DeCoyte, Silicon Gallery and Fine Art Prints for all that you have done for the Philadelphia art community and for Philagrafika!

Summer Solstice Benefit 2010 Featured Artist: Charles Fahlen

2010-06-21T09:32:00.004-05:00

Museum of Modern Art
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Albright-Knox Art Gallery
Oakland Museum of California
...you?

With a purchase of a Summer Solstice 2010 ticket, you could add your name to this prestigious list by adding a Charles Fahlen piece to your collection!

While he is from San Francisco, and returned there a few years ago, artist and sculptor Charles Fahlen spent a large portion of his career right here in Philadelphia, leaving a trail of influential gallery and museum shows as well as several public sculptures in and around Center City.

Charles Fahlen, Major. Public Sculpture at 8th and Locust Street

His distinctly post-minimalist forms are simultaneously monumental and mundane, usually referencing the materials from which they were constructed - industrial items that are commonplace in most hardware or home improvement stores. His enigmatic works seem to transcend time - based on his materials and his construction is is difficult or impossible to correctly guess the date of his works without prior knowledge.

For Summer Solstice 2010, The Fabric Workshop and Museum donates a piece created in collaboration with Fahlen during his time as an Artist-in-Residence at the Workshop. Fresh Start is reminiscent of patterns typical of Southwestern American Indians, and somewhat resembles a woven Navajo Rug, even appearing to be woven. However, Fahlen plays with space on a flat object, breaking his pattern into three distinct sections, as if folded onto itself. Closer inspection proves that the pattern isn't woven at all, but masterfully screenprinted onto .75 inch thick industrial felt. Whether this piece is a tribute to these early American craftsmen or a statement on mass-production and commercialization of these ancient patterns is up to the viewer. Regardless, this is a "fresh" take on an iconic part of American craftsmanship, and like many prints is a perfect marriage of fine art and craft.

Charles Fahlen, Fresh Start

This piece is one of many other treasures waiting to be discovered and selected by attendees of Summer Solstice 2010. Check the Philagrafika website to find your favorites, and RSVP to own them!

-Dan Haddigan

Summer Solstice Benefit 2010 Featured Artist: Alex Lukas

2010-06-17T16:02:00.002-05:00

It would be quite an understatement to say that there is a lot of discussion about the place of printmaking in contemporary fine art practice. Philadelphia artist and Space 1026 member Alex Lukas is a fine example of the driving force behind Philagrafika 2010.

Some artists use print because they need to create hundreds of multiples. Others use print because of it's traditional role in art history. Still others use it because of it's allusions to media culture and history. There are plenty of reasons to use print in contemporary practice, but many, Alex Lukas included, use print because they just can't achieve their desired results through any other process. "I think there is a mis-conception that somehow incorporating printmaking into the process is a time-saver. It really isn’t... I need to use these methods to make the images I want."

Alex Lukas, Untitled

Lukas is referring here to the series of almost exclusively untitled images he calls the "disaster drawings". The drawings themselves are absolute wonders - mixed media compositions of scenes of urban decay, flooded cities, and deserted fields of rubble. They are masterfully crafted using watercolor, gouache, spraypaint and silkscreen that culminate in a very intriguing back-and-forth between illustration and photorealism that really makes the scenes come to life.

Alex Lukas, Untitled. Available at Summer Solstice 2010!

Lukas has donated one of these compositions, a flooded city scene, for Summer Solstice 2010. These drawings rely on Lukas's screenprinting chops. He takes scenes of cities usually torn straight from books, and layers them with various media. The buildings are painstakingly masked out, and then he begins a very scientific process: using a split fountain technique, testing and retesting colors, working with different size screen mesh and several other variables until the waters that rise to the tops of skyscrapers looks just right. For such morbid images, they are absurdly beautiful.

In addition to these drawings, Alex Lukas makes humorous posters inspired by comic book art, publishes zines through his company Cantab Publishing, and is the Philadelphia correspondent for San Francisco's excellent multidisciplinary art and culture website fecalface.com. Check out Alex at www.alexlukas.com and don't forget to RSVP for Summer Solstice 2010!

-Dan Haddigan

Summer Solstice Benefit 2010 Featured Artists: Nicholas Santore and Karen Dow

2010-06-16T10:08:00.009-05:00

By Marianne Bernstein

One of the great quotes I heard recently was “that the only difference between artists and non-artists is that artists don’t give a #$&@ what others think of them”. I love the spirit of this and believe there is some truth to it.

That being said, there are two Summer Solstice artists I know well who not only don’t care what others think of them (or their work) but have consistently pursued their art with a singular vision against all odds, simply because they need to create.

Karen Dow

They don’t know each other, but share a lot in common. Both received Graduate degrees from the Yale School of Art- an institution which has influenced (I say that rather than “produced”) some amazing artists over the years, maybe because acceptance there is so competitive). They are also both extremely modest – wary of the commercial art world and the trappings of fame; they are the real deal…honest, kind, direct and unassuming, and extremely hard working. Their creativity is not a spigot that is turned on and off. They never stop being artists. Karen is a mother, teacher, gardener; Nicky is a surfer, carpenter, and musician. They breathe life into whatever it is they do.

Their prints and paintings are intricate, detailed, painstaking, requiring razor-sharp concentration and skill, methodical- produced by hands that are steady, unwavering, but with hearts full of passion, longing, and nostalgia for days when quality and skill actually mattered.

Karen Dow and Nicholas Santore graduated art school two years apart from one another (1998 and 2000, respectively). They have won prestigious awards, and each has had numerous solo and group shows. I have followed the careers of both over the past decade, and feel that they are at a critical juncture (as are many young artists) of needing financial support and encouragement from collectors and museums.

Nicholas Santore’s work is derived from a nostalgia for certain views, impressions and influences that he has observed and experienced at various times throughout his life. These include objects, figures, music, structures, patterns, colors and light specific to subject matter that is often dated, overlooked and/or neglected. The grid, pattern and seriality in his surroundings form the visual and compositional basis for his images, often exploring and distorting perspective, while constructing representational views- both invented and observed- which are realized from visual references, direct observations, memories and intuition.

Nicholas Santore, After the Gold Rush

Karen Dow’s inspiration “comes from home catalogs where fantasy, the geometry of modern architecture, and interior spaces reign. She finds beauty in these scenes and is able to break it down to its bare essence of color, line, patterns and space. Dow sees the beauty in everyday life, but knows that nothing is as it seems on the surface and when you break it down to its core, you begin to see a whole new world”.

Karen and Nicky mostly paint in oil, but also are printmakers. I was curious how their printmaking affected their paintings and vise versa. Always curious about artists’ process and influences, I asked each of them the same questions. Here are their answers:

MB: When did you realize you were an artist and why do you continue to make art?

Karen: Junior year of college, I became a potter. I continue to make art because I am an artist. I feel bad when I stop, and I feel great when I'm painting.

Nicky: After the first week of Grad school it felt legitimate to me …sometimes I feel like I'm chronicling points in time and views which are nostalgic and beautiful to me, and sometimes to honor some inner compulsion.

MB: Where did you grow up and what childhood influences shape your work?

Karen: I grew up in Buffalo, NY. I spent every Sunday having brunch at the Albright Knox Art Museum. There is a great collection of art from the 60's; giant color-field paintings, Warhols, Pollocks, it felt like home to me.

Nicky: Center City Philadelphia- my father and his work certainly influenced
me throughout my life, also the late 70's - early 80's era also informs much of my work

Nicholas Santore, Radio (Available at Summer Solstice 2010)

MB: Who (and what) has inspired and continues to inspire you?

Karen: My husband; painter Christopher Mir, teaching, and my children

Nicky: Valerie Ferus, family, Bowie

MB: Who are your favorite artists?

Karen: Josef and Anni Albers, Sol Lewitt, Mel Bochner, Agnes Martin, Gene Davis and Anne Truit. I love these artists for the way in which their art and their lives were/are fused. They all have an approach that is straightforward and uncomplicated. It feels very honest to me. I try to live up to this influence.

Nicky: Hard to pick a favorite but recently I've been looking at very early Lucien Freud, early David Hockney, Gregory Gillespie, Jean Prouve.

MB: What are your hobbies and how do they inform your work?

Karen: At first I was just going to say, "I am a teacher, mother of two and a painter! I don't have time for hobbies." Then I remembered I garden. I garden with a desire to bring beauty into my life. I organize my gardens in much the same way I organize my paintings. It brings me great joy to see things constantly changing and in need of tending and adjusting. It's always in process, and will never be finished.

Nicky: Basketball, surfing, music, yoga, vintage design, not really sure how these
connect with my work. I think music gets into my work the most.

MB: What would you like art collectors to know about you or supporting artists in general?

Karen: That living with works of art is wonderful and enriches you everyday. I have paintings and prints in my house that I look at every day. They bring me a constant sense of joy. I also see new things in these works when friends and family come into my home and remark on things they see in them. Living with art has had an impact on how I see the world since I was a child. It is important to me to see my work have a life in my collector's homes – that my paintings are lived with.

Nicky: If broken down hourly, I'm making less than minimum wage making my work.

Karen Dow

ON PRINTMAKING
Karen: I prefer etching and woodcut, both because they are so different from painting. The process is slow and completely different; subtractive rather than additive. The prints usually come after the paintings and are copies of images I have already made using a different process. This changes the images dramatically, but by using an image I have already made, I can focus solely on the process. (which is what I love about printmaking.)

Nicky: The process of making linoleum reduction prints changed the way I make paintings. The prints inherently need to be pre- planned from the drawing and composition to color choices. When I started approaching my paintings that way, I felt like I was connecting more with my subject matter, and leaving less up to chance. That's not to say that spontaneity was completely eliminated from the work…

Philagrafika chose its Summer Solstice artists very carefully this year. Each artist has immense talent, a singular vision, and a story to tell. My advice would be to come on June 23rd to Locks and choose someone whose work you respond to. Stay in touch with them. Encourage them, share yourself, be inspired, and give them the support they so much deserve. We are all in this together.

-marianne bernstein 6/16/10

Summer Solstice Benefit 2010 Featured Artist: Richard Hricko

2010-06-15T11:19:00.000-05:00

Today's featured artist is Richard Hricko, a Philadelphia-based artist, printmaker and sculptor.

Richard Hricko's influence is abundant in the Philadelphia art community. He's an educator, an Associate Professor of Art at Tyler School of Art, where he has held various faculty and administrative positions throughout the years. He's an artist, creating striking images in print, drawing and sculpture. He's also a founder of Crane Arts, one of the city's largest and most-reknowned arts communities, housing several galleries, artists studios, and arts-related businesses.

Richard Hricko Ombre

Richard Hricko's work, ultimately, is about contrast. There's the high-value visual contrast, evidenced in his often black and white print and drawing work. It's also seen in the composition of his images, often playing with the "white space" that is traditional in printmaking, including changing the size of the image to create atypical borders, or reversing the tradition and allowing black borders to bleed off the paper, thus contrasting the fine art print archetype.

Richard Hricko, Aloe II

It's also quite apparent in the imagery itself. Hricko constructs compositions of organic shapes, both from observation and imagination, and executes them with machine-like precision. The contradiction established from producing loose, natural forms in a very refined and constructed manner creates a unique energy, one that is especially powerful when combined with his awe-inspiring intricacy. The apparent theme of the search for harmony between nature and mechanized progress is classic and everlasting issue in American culture.

Richard Hricko has donated two works to the Summer Solstice Benefit: Aloe II (2001) and Ombre (2010).
RSVP today and take one home!

-Dan Haddigan

Summer Solstice Benefit 2010 Featured Artist: Mike Houston

2010-06-14T12:08:00.011-05:00

Mike Houston is one half of the revered press/collaborative Cannonball Press (part of Philagrafika 2010's Out of Print!), based in Brooklyn. In addition to his work with Martin Mazorra, the other half of Cannonball, Houston is an accomplished artist on his own, working predominantly in woodcut and letterpress.

We May be Slow... & Plunge Router

Houston's woodcut images draw on his experience with his other artistic endeavors (painting, film making, playing music, and carpentry) as well as his travels (a native North Carolinian, Houston currently lives and works in New York, and has worked in Calcutta, India, Siena, Italy and San Fransisco, CA). Houston has built a vocabulary of images based on these encounters, and his commonly used symbols include wood and tools, recurring references to beer and party culture, music genres, especially punk rock and black metal, and fantastic beings.

The complete suite of 10 prints available at Summer Solstice!

Exquisitely rendered in an unmistakably relief-cut style, Houston's images are usually presented in a black-and-white, broadside style that recalls print advertisments. Indeed, several of his compositions are fake ads for items as diverse and silly as a plunge router that sports an LCD screen - presumably for watching Shrek while woodworking - to beers inspired by cat fishermen and embodiments of satan.

Baphomet & Chinkapin

Houston has donated a suite of ten (!) relief cut and letter press prints for Summer Solstice 2010 - Chinkapin, Noodler's Brew, Untitled, Baphomet, Hippy Pellets, Knee-High Moccasins, Plunge Router, We May be Slow..., Solid Oak Underwear, and Greedy Gus. This outstanding set of prints could be going home with you on June 23!

-Dan Haddigan

Invest in Art: Summer Solstice Benefit 2010

2010-06-12T15:38:00.005-05:00

Today's post comes from Marianne Bernstein, artist, independent curator, and Philagrafika board member.

I recently traveled to London to write about and cheer on FLUXspace and Vox Populi at the Tate Modern, as well as the other 80 non-profit galleries from around the world who spent their last dimes on being included in No Soul For Sale.

Why did I do this? For the same reason I am involved with Philagrafika: a belief that artists are catalysts for change. We need to support our artists and art making in general- ALL of them- from the famous, to the not-so famous to the non-profits, festivals, and commercial galleries.

Nami Yamamoto Miniature Garden: Trace

Each and every artist plays a vital role in breathing life into the future. Whenever you support an artist, whether it’s a jewelry maker or music maker on the street, or a visual artist bravely toiling in their studio, or a collaborative group of friends bouncing ideas off each other in search of a collective voice or encouragement to further their own practice, you are in essence taking a stand to make life better.

Most of the artists featured in the Summer Solstice Benefit have regular day jobs. They are carpenters, teachers, cab drivers, social workers. Can you imagine after a full day of work having the devotion, energy and courage to enter your studio where you will work late because you cannot imagine a life without artmaking?

Marion Belanger Rift #26

This is what I told my neighbor this evening when she stopped by to say she couldn’t afford a ticket to “drink wine” at Locks. My response was, read the invitation carefully. By buying a ticket you are supporting Philagrafika which pulled off an almost impossible feat- uniting Philly’s major arts institutions by bringing world renowned artists to Philadelphia (the Graphic Unconscious), re-imagining and bringing to light little known Philadelphia historic collections (Out of Print) and Independent Projects (showcasing the varied and incredible talent and venues that are here)

Keith Johnson Indian Village

For the price of two tickets at $200 each, you leave with a print valued at much more.
The artists have been extremely generous, donating their best work for free for Philagrafika which supported them so spectacularly.

Now it’s your turn. Buy two tickets, come to the party, meet the artists and organizers (who are also artists),
celebrate summer!

Invest in art.

-Marianne Bernstein 6/11/2010

Summer Solstice 2010 Featured Artist: Amze Emmons

2010-06-11T14:56:00.008-05:00

From now until June 23, the day of Philagrafika's Summer Solstice 2010 Benefit, we will be previewing the work of a particular participating artist. First is Philadelphia artist and printmaker Amze Emmons.

One Man Hire, 2009. Screenprint

Amze Emmons is certainly committed to printmaking. The Philadelphia-based artist is an accomplished printmaker, working in a variety of media, including screenprinting, intaglio, and relief printing, often combining processes to create images that juxtapose soft, intricate detail with large areas of flat color, ranging from vibrant to austere, often in the same composition. In addition to his artistic practice, Emmons is an assistant professor of printmaking at Muhlenburg University, a founder and contributor of the excellent printmaking-miscellany blog Printeresting, and active in the printmaking community.

Informal Economy, 2009. Screenprint

Emmons has donated three prints available June 23 at the Summer Solstice Benefit: Portage, One Man Hire, and Informal Economy. His images depict locations in transition: often city scenes that appear empty and war ravaged, or makeshift shelters that appear simultaneously bleak and hopeful, due to his masterful use of color. The images are derived from a very intense and thoughtful research practice that involves, in part, collecting and methodically editing images collected from various sources in the media.

Portage, 2007. Intaglio with Screenprint.

You can find out more about Amze Emmons at amzeemmons.com and printeresting.org.

The Summer Solstice 2010 Benefit is on June 23, at Locks Gallery in Philadelphia. RSVP Today!

-Dan Haddigan

Philagrafika's Summer Solstice Benefit 2010 is Approaching!

2010-06-10T12:32:00.014-05:00

We are just under two weeks away from the sixth Summer Solstice Benefit, Philagrafika's annual summer fundraiser.

This year, the benefit will be held at Locks Gallery on Washington Square South. Locks has generously made available the use of their fabulous third-floor gallery and roof terrace, where guests will enjoy drinks, fine food, and music under the stars.

It's a great party, but it's really all about the art. Traditionally, this event features the work of some of the region's most accomplished artists working in print. Everyone who attends gets his or her name put in a bowl, and then drawn in a lottery. When your name is called, you select the print of your choice. Every attendee leaves with a significant piece of art under his or her arm! The value of each print greatly exceeds the $400 ticket price - a coup for those savvy enough to grab a ticket or two.

Alexandre Arrechea, Mississippi Bucket

This year's event offers something extraordinary: a snapshot of the wildly successful triennial Philagrafika 2010. Many of the artists contributing work for this Summer Solstice Benefit were also participants in the festival, and all three of its components will be well represented: The Graphic Unconscious, Out of Print, and Independent Projects. Included are prints by Carl Pope (who contributes the hilarious and now iconic image that served as the program guide's cover), Eric Avery, Regina Silveira, Matt Neff, Daniel Heyman, Virgil Marti, Enrique Chagoya, Jenny Schmid, Alexandre Arrechea, Miriam Singer, and Betsabe Romeo, to name just a few. You can see the full list, along with images, on Philagrafika's website.

Pablo Helguera, Came Summer and the Interest Grew

Walking into the gallery on June 23^rd, guests will be treated to what is essentially a mini retrospective of the festival. With more than one hundred works in one space, it will be thrilling - if not dizzying! And if that weren't enough, each guest will choose a favorite print to take home! The only real question is: if you haven't bought your ticket yet, what are you waiting for?

-Tim Evans

A Philadelphia Biennial

2010-04-06T09:01:00.017-05:00

Carl Pope, from The Mind of Cleveland, 2007-8.

Letterpress poster, 24 x 18 inches.

Dear friends:

Philagrafika 2010 is coming to an end this Sunday, April 11. Please, if you haven’t seen it all, take the opportunity to visit the core and ancillary shows. Our calendar lists the hours of operation and the program so you can plan your visit ahead of time.

We are extremely satisfied with the response to the festival. We had a high attendance by out-of-towners especially during the Southern Graphics Council and NCECA conferences, which, combined, brought almost 7000 visitors to the city. But the local public has also supported us massively in every single event and program we have had in the past two and a half months. By now, Philagrafika is a household name, like the Fringe. We need to build on this success with the aim to establish Philagrafika as a staple in the cultural life of the city.

Critical response has also been extremely positive. Art in America ran a 7-page article in its April issue that covers the entire span of the show. NPR’s All Things Considered aired a 6-minute segment about Philagrafika, which brought even more awareness to our project in the national arena. In addition, The New York Times devoted a half-page review, and all of the local newspapers have written thoughtful, in-depth articles about Philagrafika as a whole, or about specific shows or artists.

I am writing this post in relation to Roberta Fallon's article calling for the establishment of a Philadelphia Biennial. I must say that I agree with Roberta in most of what she says. But I also think that Philagrafika 2010 is exactly what she is calling for.

Philagrafika is an international Biennial-type event (in our case, Triennial), that brings together local, national and international artists. As other events of this type, it showcases the local scene (artists, curators and institutions) to the large public that visits the event, and prompts collaboration with the international artists that come and work here. It is a proven fact that in those cities which have a recurring international art event the local artistic community thrives, because of the exposure to new and challenging art, and by the relationships and working partnerships that usually make part of the implementation of large shows.

Roberta calls for an event that is multi-sited, curated by museum heads, includes an outside curator, and produces a catalog. That is exactly the model that we developed, where a group of local curators, each one associated with a major institution, collaborated with me towards a common goal. The publication is on its way.

There are only two differences I can see between Philagrafika and the Philadelphia Biennial that Roberta is proposing:

One, she is thinking of an event that focus on regional contemporary art. Whereas Philagrafika’s core show features local artists in its mix (which includes 18 countries and more than 25 cities), it is not to be forgotten that the larger component of the event are the Independent Projects, which bring together more than 80 institutions in which local artists (more than 700!) figure prominently. A second incarnation of Philagrafika could broaden the participation of local artists in the core show. As the case with most artistic scenes, Philadelphia artists want to show and be seen in an international context, not just amongst their local peers.

Two, Philagrafika 2010 is framed by medium specificity, which is a characteristic other biennials do not have. As I stated in the talk I gave as part of the panel “Prints, or Contemporary Art”? at the SGC conference, having print as a reference is to be understood as a parameter that can be rethought creatively. It suffices to visit the PMA and see Tabaimo’s and Oscar Muñoz’s video installations to realize that a medium need not be restrictive at all. The Whitney Biennial is an event that has its own limitations to overcome: namely, the imperative of defining who can be considered American, which calls for permanent negotiation given the Whitney's mandate and the nomadic nature of artists in this age of globalization. Any of the works in Philagrafika 2010, I would contend (at least in The Graphic Unconscious and Out of Print components) would feel at ease at any other biennial in the world, including the Whitney (provided they can classify as American, that is).

Ken Johnson summed it up succinctly in the New York Times: "Is printmaking dead, or is it reborn? Is it a meaningful category at all anymore for contemporary artists who revel in mechanically produced imagery of all kinds and fearlessly use and misuse whatever tools are at hand? If you think these questions matter -and there are good reasons to think they do- you need to plan a trip to Philadelphia."

In short, I would encourage the local community to side by Philagrafika towards its new incarnation, which should happen in three years, and together build on the success of the festival, which is a shared success of the entire artistic community of Philadelphia. It is to be noted that every penny we raised was given to the core participating venues to fund their part of the exhibition. This is a truly collaborative effort that has benefited the entire community. Let’s move forward with Philagrafika 2013. Together we can make this happen.

José Roca.
Artistic Director, Philagrafika

SGC International in Philly: Some of my photos from the conference

2010-03-29T23:10:00.102-05:00

By Miriam Singer, artist and Philagrafika 2010 Volunteer

This is my selection of photographs I took at the SGC international conference:Mark Remarque. There was so much to do and see, lectures, exhibits, demos, and events. I could not do it all. I went to printmaking demos during the day and events at night. I have been thinking a lot about relief printing, so I went to demos and events that were somehow tied into relief, book binding, and wheatpaste. They fit well together. The photo above:Wednesday 3/17, Drive by Press at The Print Center. a public block party taking over the entire block of Latimer St. It was a woodblock block party. The Philagrafika 2010 Graphic Unconscious exhibit at The Print Center was open till 9 p.m. Drive By Press was printing woodblocks and silkscreens on t-shirts or paper out on the street. And encouraging participant collaboration.

Above; Drive By Press is printing woodblocks right out of the back of their van.
After The Print Center I headed to UArts For Democratic Down N'Dirty DIY Screenprinting where participants were encouraged to screenprint on paper and wheatpaste it on to wood panels.These panels were later installed as part of The Wall of Statements in the university lot at 313 South Broad Street. Thursday 3/18; I headed to Southern Graphic Demonstrations at UArts and PAFA. Above; Mary Tasillo Printing with Pulp veil Layers and Editioning, at UArts. Here she is printing layers of colored pulp into her handmade paper with stencils and molds. She had all kinds of different interesting techniques, Some you can do at home (with a blender). See her blog about her Philagrafika Independent Project public art project, Book Bombs with her collaborator Michelle Wilson.
Above:Bobby Rosenstock & Erin Sweeney: Experimental Broadsides on the Vandercook Press, UArts.

Above two Images : Animated Prints with Claire Fourquet at UARTS. monotype as animation. Pictured above: UArts student assistants are doing a series of trace monotypes to be photographed and uploaded into an animation by Professor Fourquet.
At PAFA I checked out Joseph Lappie's demonstration: The Drum Leaf or How To Make an Artist's Book That Accommodates (Nearly) Every Print Technique Ever. A Drum Leaf is a binding that requires no sewing and only minimal glue.

Friday 3/19 I headed to Moore College of Art for Katie Baldwin's Demo: Japanese Style Water-Based Printing (Moku Hanga) pictured in photographs above. Much Later on that day I also saw Katie's installation in The Extra-Dimensional Printmaking Invitational at NEXUS/foundation for today's art. Katie also had great instructional zines available following her demo.

The photo above: Japanese Stab Binding Demonstration also at Moore. Tara O'Brien and Melanie Mowinski split the demonstration time between how to create the binding, and part of the time discussing the relationship between content and structure of this bind.

Above is an image of Monika Meler placing her cardboard matrix on the press at Tyler School Of Art. Monika uses cardboard and pvc board to produce multilayered prints.

Following the demos I headed to: Viking Ship, Hostel Takeover. A 25 foot long wooden viking ship, built by Dennis McNett of HowlingPrint Studios I brought some prints of my own to wheatpaste the ship with, I luckily got to put a few up before the wheatpaste was put away and they installed the wheels. It was a magnificent ship ! The photo above was taken by Rebecca Mott. The color and mark combinations from the accumulation of prints were amazing. Following all the receptions including SGC portfolios, Medium Resistance, and Nexus, at 8 pm everyone paraded with the ship down American St to 2nd St. Happily. I managed to come away with a piece of the ship after we all broke it apart in the Piazza (2nd and Hancock) .

Independent Projects Report: Building by the Book at the Philadelphia Athenaeum

2010-03-10T13:51:00.015-05:00

This report comes from Adrienne Jenkins, Managing Director of Philagrafika

The Athenaeum of Philadelphia, in conjunction with the Philadelphia Center for the Book, is currently exhibiting a wonderful presentation of artist books that were produced in response to the Athenaeum’s research collections. The collections library was founded in 1814 and is a resource for the study of architecture and design. Six artists from around the country were selected through a juried process, with works ranging from traditional to sculptural, expressing many possibilities for artists producing one-of-a-kind books.

Artist Aimee Denault next to her book Windows

Each book is a jewel - visually stunning, conceptually engaging and well-crafted. My favorites on view include Aimee Denault’s Windows, a pristine book of clean, white pages that radiates a spirituality derived from its cross or mandala design carved into the pages creating an elaborate pattern. Upon further study one sees that the four arms of the cross are in fact window shapes derived from colorplates of large houses in Wetherill’s Portfolio of Artistic Designs. Each page is painstakingly created by hand using an exacto knife to create intricate patterns. This is a gorgeous book!

Claire Owen and The Cultivation of Zoophytes

Local artist Claire Owen took inspiration from Jacob Weidenmann’s Beautifying Country Homes: A Handbook of Landscape Gardening to create a whimsical series of pamphlets with drawings and tongue-in-cheek instructions for cultivating six imaginary creatures from plant materials, with accompanying landscape designs. Inspired by her own recent interest in the term zoophyte, the illustrated creatures include a hare springing forth from fern fronds. This book titled The Cultivation of Zoophytes is a testament to the infinite possibilities inherent in nature, paying subtle homage to the transformative process of bookmaking as an art similarly derived from plant materials.

John Magnan poses beside his work Diorama

Diorama, a book of pure sculptural beauty is a wood-carved work by John Mangnan of Massachusetts. I had the opportunity to speak with the artist at the opening reception and learned that the maple and oak structure of the book was intended to follow the tree’s rings and thus has a slightly curved structure. This is not a book where one can turn pages; instead, it is a three-dimensional journey into the life of buildings from a time when attention to architectural detail was paramount. Beginning with the cover’s carved, open archway, one can see through to each page featuring a distinct carving such as an intricate fireplace mantle. Based on the how-to-book The Young Carpenter’s Assistant which shows several examples of furniture, architectural elements and other building features, this book is like the Anthenaeum itself, reminding us of a bygone era where art and craft were woven into the structures of daily life. When you go, make sure to see the original research library, an elegant and stately room in this impressive building.

The exhibition runs through May 1, 2010. See the Anthenaeum web site www.philaanthenaeum.org for more information.

-Adrienne Jenkins

Photos from the Building by the Book opening reception courtesy of the Philadelphia Aethenaeum.

Evan Roth At Vox Populi

2010-03-02T11:29:00.044-05:00

Report from the Miriam Singer from the Vox Populi Speakeasy Series as part of Philagrafika 2010

Evan Roth is an artist with interests in technology, tools of empowerment, open source, and popular culture.

Roth is all about giving out software programs for free. His book is available online for free. And he is interested in making otherwise expensive operating mechanisms available for free or as inexpensive as possible.

His lecture at Vox Populi was a live streaming presentation from Paris. Roth spoke about the overlap of art, graffiti, technology, data visualization, hip hop, and free culture. As part of Speakeasy-Philagrafika 2010 Independent Projects lecture series.

One of his target audiences is The Bored At Work Network, the audience of people willing to waste time on the computer. I have never experienced a web cam lecture, so I felt like I was in the future, and even though I am not bored at work, I could spend a lot of time on his website.

He had a ton of insight. I have been thinking all weekend about this insight into creating projects, and as he put it, "Good things happen in year, great things happen in a weekend."

His lecture at Vox Populi is online, so if you missed this you can still experience it. His website is very exciting with links, instruction manuals, video, images, type...but I think it was important to hear him speak about it all, in the format of the lecture.

Above image is of a print installed in NYC. Graffiti Taxonomy. This project presents isolated letters from various graffiti tags, reproduced in similar scales and at close proximity. The intent of these studies is to show the diversity of styles, as expressed in a single character. This was reproduced from photographs of tags taken in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Allow me to paraphrase from my notes:

Evan Roth is interested in Art that isn't boring, and Activism that isn't tired. Roth is interested in the free cultural movement and is looking forward to the day artists (for example rappers) talk about open source code.

Graffiti is free. As in free beer (which we had at Vox Populi), and free--as in free speech. Graffiti has completely changed the way cities look, and he promotes open source programs as a way to change the way the Internet looks. He fell in love with graffiti as a pedestrian. He has approached it with his skill sets from architecture, computer software design, engineering, and research.

Check out his impressive bio. He is a inventor, scholar, visual artist, and bad ass.

He is interested in software that inserts small interventions into the larger system of the Internet. This is much like a graffiti artist with a spray can and or wheatpaste, who is making small interventions into the cityscape. The Internet is his favorite graffiti technology, next to a spray paint can. I will end this with the image below of a handshake between computer hackers and graffiti artists...

PMA Kids Make Bus Shelter Posters for Philagrafika

2010-02-25T15:53:00.007-05:00

Animal Portraits, by students from General Louis Wagner
Middle School, with artist Roslyn Don

Every year, the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Delphi After School Art Club's students devise and execute a community service project: a large, collaborative public art project. The goal of the project is to bring their art to a broader public,in order to benefit of the larger community. In years past, they've created large ceramic murals on school buildings, and worked with Philadelphia Mural Arts to add ceramic tiles to city murals.

Philly Under the Blue Moon, by students from Martha Washington
Elementary School, with artist Doris Nogueira-Rogers

Environmental Tree, by students from William M. Meredith
Elementary School, with artist Heather Pieters

This year, in honor of Philagrafika 2010, the students undertook a collaborative printmaking project, creating posters for display on bus shelters throughout the city. The students worked on collaborative prints with various themes under the teaching artists of the Delphi After School Art Club. They then collaborated with PMA's Graphic Design and Editorial Departments to design the layouts of the posters. The posters will be livening up the following bus stops from March 1 - March 14:

1. Northwest Corner Broad and Locust
2. Southeast Corner, Broad and Spruce
3 Walnut and Broad
4. Walnut and 7^th
5. Walnut and 19^th
6. Chestnut and 19^th
7. Chestnut and 20^th
8. Mid-700 block, north side of Market
9. Mid -800 block, north side of Market
10. Mid-900 block, north side of Market
11. Southwest corner 10^th and Market
12. Southeast corner of 21^st and Market

Try to Remember, by students from Russell Byers
Charter School, with artist Ben Volta

Wall of Voices, by students from Cook-Wissahickon
Elementary School, with artist Roslyn Don

Open Book Event at the Print Center Opens Minds

2010-02-22T15:00:00.003-05:00

Report by Dan Haddigan, artist and Philagrafika 2010 intern

In our super fast world of websites and blogs and tweeting and instant information and jagtags and chatroulette, it can be pretty easy to forget about the status of the book in contemporary culture and its place in the art world. The Open Book event held at the Print Center last Saturday, March 20 reminded everyone just how awesome the book is.

For anyone interested in the history of the book as an art object, the Print Center offered a crash course in the history of the artist’s book. Whether you were an artist’s book connoisseur, or just a book newbie, there was plenty of information to be gleaned from the presentations of famed Philadelphia collective Space 1026, Chicago printers, publishers, and provocateurs Temporary Services and New York artist’s book heaven Printed Matter. (Transatlantic New York-based collaborative Dexter Sinister’s books were on display, but unfortunately the artists were not able to attend the event). Attendees wandered throughout both levels of the Print Center, perusing the books on display and meeting and talking with the artists.

Temporary Services checking out the people checking out Temporary Services' books

While the artist’s book has lost some of the radical, populist pizzaz it boasted at it’s birth in the 60’s, it remains as an important, if overlooked, avenue for artists to distribute their artwork en masse, and it still remains as the most wallet-friendly way for the common person to collect their favorite artist’s work and for the artist to get their art in the hands of as many people as possible. Space 1026 takes this to heart, as Roman Hasiuk, Leah Mackin and Mike Gerkovich explained how the collective’s artists regularly make and distribute inexpensive zines and artists books, many of which were on display and for sale at their table.

Salem Collo-Julin shows off a copy of the Temporary Conversations interview with Austin hardcore band The Dicks

Temporary Services artists Brett Bloom, Salem Collo-Julin and Marc Fisher explained their history as a collective and how they continued in the tradition of using the book as a for-the-masses communication tool. In answering questions from the crowd about their work, they shed some light on their collaborations with other artists (such as a book about prison inventions with an artist incarcerated in California and their Temporary Conversations interview series), their desire to expose the artist in everyone (and art that isn’t shown in a gallery).

Max Schumann from Printed Matter talks about their selection of artists books on display

In the gallery shop, a selection of books from the Printed Matter accompanied a lesson on the history of the artist’s book from its very beginning to its place now. Max Schumann’s presentation tied together the common theme of the day: the celebration of the book as the true art form of the people. Printed Matter even operates a submission program, so not only can the average Joe art fan own a work by the Richard Princes and Ed Rushas of the world, but they can share the store’s shelf space with them as well.

Books galore in the Gallery Shop

The artist’s book still has, and always will have its place in contemporary art. The physical presence of a printed object will always win over the fleeting, transitory and intangible nature of the website or blog. (“Book” even sounds better than “blog”, doesn’t it? Not that blogs don't have their place, though, keep reading this one!) Exciting artists like the ones featured at the Print Center continue to extend and enhance the book’s changing life.

Take some time to check out Space 1026, Temporary Services, Dexter Sinister and Printed Matter, and if you haven’t been to the Print Center yet, you don’t even have an excuse. Just go already.

Brett, Marc and Salem hiding with staff from Philagrafika and the Print Center

First Friday in the snow: Gallery Joe & Space 1026

2010-02-22T14:27:00.000-05:00

Report from Miriam Singer, artist and Philagrafika 2010 volunteer

Philagrafika Independent Project venue, Gallery Joe had a terrific turn-out on first friday despite the snowy winter storm.(top image) A promise is a promise, etching with chin colle' by Samantha Simpson printed by Jim Stoud at Center Street Studio. (above image) A crowded vault gallery... Artist, Adam Carlton Carrigan is on the right . His exhibit, Big Bang was curated by Marianne Bernstein. Big Bang is a very interesting multi-media exhibit that focuses on the seven theoretical ideas of the exploding forces of the universe.

In the Front Gallery; Prints by Gallery Artists ... An impressive show of prints by the following artists: Martin Wilner, Sharon Louden, Stephen Robin, Winifred Lutz, Jeanne Jaffe, Samantha Simpson, Lynne Clibanoff, Mark Sheinkman, Charles Ritchie, Kate Moran, Linn Meyers, Rob Matthews, Mary Judge, Marilyn Holsing, Christine Hiebert, Emily Brown, and Astrid Bowlby.

This show is hung salon style and it features a variety of printmaking techniques; from woodblock, etching, letterpress, digital to silkscreen. Some artists have printed on their own, or with assistance.This show also includes artists who have worked with printers to name: Lily Press, Center Street Studio, Chris Creyts, C.R. Ettinger Studio, Silicon, Post Editions, Corridor Press, Wildwood Press, and Elizabeth Gross.

Martin Wilner, Joural of Evidence Weekly, Vol.138, 2008 printed by Amber McMillan, Post Editions, Letterpress on Rives

Marilyn Holsing, Young Maria takes it with her, 2009, Etching, C.R. Ettinger Studio

...After Gallery Joe I headed to another Philagrafika Independent Project Venue,

Space 1026, It Was Good While It Lasted . Terrific show with two artists: works on paper, mixed printmaking media, and installation:

Blake E Marquis & Justin Van Hoy

Above: Artist, Justin Van Hoy standing next to Seattle #1 and Milwaukee #1.These are made with LA Smog ! Screen print, WD40, spray paint, coffee, coke, and LA smog on paper.

Above: Blake E Marquis. Two Pieces (1) , Two Pieces (2), Sell Short. Acrylic on Handmade paper.

Note: There is still time to see these shows before they come down! Gallery Joe and Space 1026 are up through February 27th.

Bearing Witness

2010-02-18T14:39:00.008-05:00

A Studio Report from Caitlin Perkins, Philagrafika 2010 Program Manager

I was in Cindi Ettinger's printmaking studio this morning working on an Out of Print project for Philagrafika 2010, and while we were waiting for the artist to arrive, Cindi showed me the new package that Daniel Heyman created for his Bearing Witness print project (images below.)

First, this is a truly important body of work that he has created, and I would encourage you to visit his website to learn more at www.danielheyman.com.

The package, including two softcover books in a slipcase, is a stunning package weaving together his prints, paintings and writing about the war in Iraq, specifically the abuse and torture of innocent Iraqis at Abu Ghraib and other prisons.

As I flipped through the books, the bold graphic images of eagles immediately caught my eye. Incredibly, these are intaglio images printed onto plywood! Cindi pointed out to me that on the opposite wall, hanging above the inking station was a proof on paper, from this series.

Proof of etched zinc plate with spit bite text

Never one to take the easy road--Cindi explained the complicated process she developed with Daniel, to realize his project. This included selecting the "perfect" wood to serve not as the matrix, but as the surface for the printed image (this meant the most knotty plywood.) Working at Penn Campus, where the printer and artist had access to two large presses, side by side - they printed the etched zinc plate onto dampened paper and then quickly move to the second press, where the image was then transferred to the wood substrate.

Daniel will be installing these wood prints at the List Gallery for his show opening in March as part of Philagrafika 2010. Visit www.philagrafika2010.org/node/105 for more information on his solo show, Bearing Witness at the List Gallery and the Printmakers Go to War exhibition at the McCabe Library on the Swarthmore College Campus.

When Photographers are Blinded, etching on plywood, 10'x14', 2010

Bearing Witness
March 4th-April 9th, 2010
Opening reception and artist's lecture:
March 4th, 2010, 4:30-7pm

Printmakers go to War
McCabe Library, Swarthmore College
March 4–April 9, 2010
Opening reception:
March 4th, 2010, 12-1pm

Symposium: Artists in Wartime: bearing Witness/Shaping a Response
March 20th, 2010
9:30am-Noon
Reception:Saturday, March 20, Noon-1 PM

List Gallery at Swarthmore College 500 College Ave. Swarthmore, PA 19081 Phone: (610) 328-7811 Web: http://www.swarthmore.edu/Humanities/art/Gallery/

Printmakers Open Forum hosts La Ceiba Grafica

2010-02-08T10:13:00.010-05:00

Alyse Bernstein sends us a report from The Midwives Collective & Gallery, where the Printmakers Open Forum curated a show for Philagrafika 2010. Alyse and her boyfriend Marc attended a lithography demo as part of the festivities at the gallery this past weekend. Alyse teaches lithography at the Fleisher Art Memorial.

Marc and I were grateful to discover that despite two feet of snow on Saturday The Midwives Collective and Gallery was open for business-thank you Nora! On display is one of the Independent Projects of Philagrafika 2010 entitled Recognition: The legendary tradition of contemporary printmaking in Mexico along with lithography demonstrations by Per Anderson and Martin Vinaver who are also participating artists in the exhibition.

Per and I met in the summer of 2001 at the Tamarind Institute and quickly discovered we possessed a mutual commitment to lithography and the martial arts. These topics fed many conversations about the differences and similarities of marble to limestone and Tai Chi to Aikido. Per practiced Tai Chi every morning and drew with his homemade litho crayons, pencils, and tousche wash, producing a print a day. Per encouraged me to pull a lithograph from marble while in New Mexico and was full of advice on graining, drawing, and processing the marble for printing.

Per drawing on a marble stone at Tamarind Summer 2001

Per and Martin are a part of the graphic art center La Ceiba Grafica. Together they drove to Philadelphia with a car full of demonstration materials from the Mexican state of Veracruz. One of their travel companions is a portable wooden press with a 20” x 16” bed, which was produced at the center. La Ceiba Grafica is a unique place that draws from the natural wealth and
resources found in the area.

The artists have overcome the expense of imported goods by acquiring marble from a nearby quarry, while local beaches provide silica sand employed in graining the marble, local hotels provide discarded cotton bed sheets and towels that are transformed into pulp to create handmade paper for printing, and orange peels from local groves create the turpentine used for cleanup. The center offers workshops in several disciplines beside lithography: etching, Japanese woodblock, and papermaking.

A print pulled at the Midwives Collective on Saturday from a marble stone

Marc observed that the opportunity to see the process that produces the artwork in a gallery is rare. Take advantage and stop by the Midwives Gallery on Monday, February 8, 2010 at 4:30 to see Per and Martin in action and learn more about La Ceiba Grafica and the art of lithography from marble stones.

Promotional materials from La Ceiba Grafica

Bounding Billow: Sailors Printing on the High Seas

2010-02-06T18:48:00.016-05:00

Martin Mazorra and Mike Houston of Cannonball Press braved the snowstorm of the season (if not the century) traveling from Brooklyn to Philadelphia. Their mission: delivery of a refurbished press and a trial run printing aboard the Cruiser Olympia, for the Out of Print program of Philagrafika 2010.

They managed to get the press onto the ship which required going across the deck of the submarine, the Becuna and into the Olympia. From there the press was deposited into the Admirals' quarters in the front of the ship where the boat has heat for the Cannonball to work

Printing press which lives aboard the Cruiser Olympiahis press is not the original, nor is it in working order - so Cannonball artists found a contemporary to what would have been used to print The Bounding Billow for the Out of Print project in the spring of 2010. Also shown is the exhibit case with the artist book that Cannonball has printed for the project.

After getting the press on the ship we headed to the Franklin Fountain for some research...they would like to have an ice cream social aboard the ship in March as part of the SGC conference...these are the Tarzan, a banana split and the Vesuvius (amazing).

Today the city of Philadelphia was blanketed by 23+ inches of snow. I documented my travels to the ship where I found the Cannonball boys wrapping up the trial print run on board. They were printing the last pages of a beautiful artist book that they created for the project. The book includes stories they gathered from their research at the Independence Seaport Museum alongside illustrations, based on woodcut prints they created.

Video adventure walking to the Cruiser Olympia from South Philly today during the snowstorm to see Cannonball Press test printing

The clamshell press in the Admiral quarters where Mike and Martin were printing, plus the chase locked up on the press with the magnesium plate of the text for the spread they printed shown here alongside an illustration of the engine from the ship.

Hope to see you this spring - family fun day planned for April 10. In the meantime, stay tuned for more details about the ice cream social printing day on board during SGC conference.

Best,

Caitlin

Day one: we're officially open!

2010-01-29T16:46:00.006-05:00

Artists and curators inside Regina Silveira's installation at Moore. Left to Right, top to bottom: Lorie Mertes, Carl Pope, Roman Hasiuk, Jacob Marcineck, Jodie Rice, Jason Hsu, Crystal Stokowski, Matt Leines, Annie Altschuler, Christopher Kline, Pablo Helguera, Francesc Ruiz, Betsebeé Romero, Gunilla Klingberg, Barthélémy Toguo, Ferrán ElOtro, John Caperton, Orit Hofshi, Erick Beltrán, Virgil Marti, Julien Robson, Shelley Langdale, Sheryl Conkelton, Óscar Muñoz, Duke Riley, Tabaimo, José Roca, Mike Gerkovich, Clint Woodside, Bjornstjerne Christiansen, Caroline, Miler Lagos, Christiane Baumgartner.

Philagrafika 2010 is officially open. We at Philagrafika are extremely grateful to all of you that have supported us over the years. The citywide participation exceeded our expectations, and we are very pleased with the outcome: the shows are challenging, stunning and intriguing both visually and conceptually, and they are very different in scope and scale so there will be something that strikes a chord with every visitor.

We want to acknowledge our very supportive board, who carried us through rough moments; also the five core partners for The Graphic Unconscious, the five Out of Print institutional partners, and the more than 80 Independent Projects, who gave their time and resources for this project.

I want to thank especially my co-curators of The Graphic Unconscious John Caperton, Sheryl Conkelton, Shelley Langdale, Lorie Mertes and Julien Robson, for three intense years of professional work, intellectual exchange and friendship. Also to Shayna McConville, who handled the installations at Temple.

And above all, we want to thank the artists, who agreed to participate in this show and who have been extremely generous. We hope they are as pleased with the results as we are.

J. Roca.

Sweet Spot

2010-01-28T15:40:00.003-05:00

Matt Neff's letterpress posters

One of Katie Baldwin's maps

Print and installation by Ben Volta

I saw the exhibition at one of Philagrafika 2010 Independent Projects, The Center for Emerging Visual Artists, which for almost three decades had supported local talent. In their somewhat hidden but conveniently situated space (they are at 15 and locust), they deployed an elegant show that includes works by Julia Blaukopf, Andrea Cote, Marisha Simons, Ben Volta, Katie Baldwin and Philagrafika supporter Matt Neff.

J. Roca.

Openings galore

2010-01-27T19:14:00.003-05:00

Superflex's talk at Temple

IPCNY's New Prints at the Pearlstein Gallery at Drexel.

Miler Lagos' exhibition at the Arthur Ross gallery at Penn

View of the "throne" made with stacked newspapers

Most of the exhibitions are opening this weekend. Check the calendar for dates and hours.

J. Roca.

Getting ready for the press preview tomorrow!

2010-01-26T15:19:00.004-05:00

The Philagrafika house pets looking at the PGKA ad in the New York Times.

Plan your wekend: there will be plenty to see.

PGKA signs

2010-01-25T12:20:00.003-05:00

All of our partners will have "PGKA" signs, the acronym that stands for Philagrafika, which they can put on their doors or windows. They are meant to help the visitor find the venues more easily once they have gotten to a given street with the aid of the map. They are color-coded: orange for The Graphic Unconscious, celadon green for Out of Print, and blue for the Independent Projects.

J. Roca.

The uses of art

2010-01-24T00:25:00.004-05:00

A couple of newlyweds stopped by Paul Morrison's mural on 20th street and used it as the backdrop for their wedding photos. Quite surreal...

J. Roca.

Memento Mori

2010-01-23T23:50:00.004-05:00

Dear friends:

Pepón Osorio just finished his beautiful installation at PAFA. It consists of an x-ray image of a skull, done with a special inkjet printer onto a thick layer of confetti. The image comes from a highly personal source, and it is meant to be a memento mori, a rumination of the frailty and brevity of life. Over time the image might break down further.

Also referencing death in the form of skulls and bones is Virgil Marti's work, a wallpaper installation which will cover one of the galleries at Moore, which can be seen from Race street. It will be complemented with a plush ottoman, and a mirror ball.

J. Roca.

One week out!

2010-01-21T22:45:00.008-05:00

The Philagrafika banners on Broad Street by PAFA

In one week, Philagrafika will open to the public. The installations are almost ready at most of the sites. The artists started arriving this week to finalize their works. I am posting some of the latest updates.

José Roca.

Detail of Gunilla Klingberg's window piece

Oscar Muñoz's Narcissi being unpacked at the PMA

Paul Morrison's stenciled mural on 20th street is almost ready

One of Erick Beltrán's "media characters"

Dispatch's editions at the Print Center

Qiu Zhijie's rubbings at PAFA.

Sue Coe for Haiti

2010-01-21T10:28:00.011-05:00

Auschwitz begins whenever someone looks at a slaughterhouse and thinks "they are only animals", 2009.

Woodcut, 12 x 45 inches. edition of 25.

Dear friends:

Sue Coe, the legendary british-born artist living in the US since the seventies, is participating in Philagrafika as one of the artists at the Print Center. Coe has always understood the role of the print as a means of protesting in face of abuse and inequalities. Her website's name, Graphic Witness, indicates her will to bear testimony to the social and political turmoil she has experienced, and highlights other artists and collectives, from Goya and Kathe Kollwitz, to the Taller de Gráfica Popular in Mexico and artists working under conditions of political repression in El Salvador. One of her main subjects in recent years has been cruelty towards animals, as in factory farming and the industrial meat business. She sells her prints online for almost nothing considering her stature as an artist (she has had solo and group exhibitions at the Hirshhorn, the List Art Center in Providence, MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, the New Museum, and LACMA, among others.) Most of the proceedings go to animal rights organizations.

We are showing a group of recent woodcuts, done in her characteristically raw, unadorned style. The one above is inspired by the famous quote from philosopher Theodor Adorno, which reminds us that tragedy always happens in the face of indifference.

Block for the poster, to be printed this week.

Coe just did a woodblock for a poster regarding the current situation in Haiti. This brand new work will be on display at the Print Center.

José Roca.

Sneak peek at Fleisher/Ollman's

2010-01-20T14:15:00.006-05:00

Isaac Lin in front of his work.

As part of Philagrafika's Independent Projects, Philadelphia artist Isaac Lin (of the artist collective Space 1026) will be having a solo show at Fleisher/Ollman Gallery. The show has two parts: an installation with a large space built from cardboard boxes, with printed materials inside, and a very compelling piece on a wall, composed of dozens of photographs sent to the artist by his friends, onto which he drew or painted his signature patterns, resulting in sometimes startling, often dreamy juxtapositions.

The exhibition opens tomorrow night.

J. Roca.

The space being prepared.

Stencil-printed free forms.

Wall of photographs with Lin's interventions

Detail of Dan Murphy's photograph, intervened by Lin.

Some installation shots

2010-01-19T18:03:00.010-05:00

The title wall at Temple gallery.

Dear friends:

Some pictures from the installation at Temple gallery. They are preparing the space to receive works by Barthélémy Toguo, the Danish collective Superflex, Carl Pope, Thomas Kilpper, and the Korean-American duo YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES. On this blog I have interviewed most of them. Pope and Swoon will also have works in different sites in North Philadelphia. Sheryl Conkelton has been corresponding with the artists in order to define their projects, and Shayna McConville has been very busy project-managing the ensemble.

The kiosk for Francesc Ruiz's installation is almost ready.

And the newspapers and magazines arrived today!

YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES will show a text-based Flash animation with sound, projected on a large screen.

Thomas Kilpper's video being installed.

Regina Silveira arrived today. The installation at Moore is looking great.

Paul Morrison's piece is coming up on 20th street, and the walls for Virgil marti's wallpaper installation are being prepared. More to report tomorrow.

Vinyl expert Gibbs talks with Eduardo, Regina's assistant.

A general view of the Paley gallery.

The bugs look great on the terrazzo floor!

Two panels from Paul Morrison's Haustorium are already installed.

The entire wall will be covered with his stenciled mural.

What in the World?

2010-01-18T16:03:00.011-05:00

The set of What in the World?, c. 1952. University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia.

Dear friends:

Since blogs are a fairly new form of communication, the average blog reader was probably born after 1980. I might be wrong, but I would bet that very few of you are aware of a TV program called "What in the World?", let alone actually watched it, since it aired in the early fifties and only for a decade. What in the World ? was the brainchild of Froelich Rainey, the visionary director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and anthropology (also known as the Penn Museum), who was only forty when appointed to such a distinguished position in 1947. The format was simple: there was an object on a pedestal, and the public was told at the beginning what it was (e.g. an Inuit mask, a Mayan ritual ornament from Mexico, a chunk of obsidian from Irak, etc.) The object seemed to appear from behind a fog curtain, the theatrics being part of the dramaturgy of the program. In the background, three scholars, each one a specialist in a given field (archaeology, ethnology, paleontology, etc) were shown live the object for the first time, and were expected to guess what it was, where it came from, and from what time. They were sometimes off the mark, and the possibility of the expert not guessing the right answers added to the public's expectations, but most of the times they got it right following an engaging process that involved expertise and deduction. This program was an early example of bringing high culture to the masses, and was very successful, proving that there is no need to "dumb down" content to appeal to a larger audience, and that the public responds accordingly.

The School of Panamerican Unrest (2003-2006)

Soap Opera Institute at Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2002.

One of Pablo Helguera's public think-tanks.

Pablo Helguera is a Mexican artist that lives and works in new York. His practice is multidisciplinary, ranging from books and installation to field work and performance. He has done long-term, research-based works like Instituto de la telenovela (Soap Opera Institute), which investigated the cultural significance of Latin American soap operas, and the School of Panamerican Unrest, a itinerant forum on libertarian thought that took him on a long journey from Anchorage to Tierra del Fuego. He is also a museum educator, having held positions at the Guggenheim and at MoMA, and thus museum rhetorics inform his artistic work. He has worked with archives, libraries and collections, highlighting objects that might have been obscured or overseen. But his main interest, beyond the objects themselves, are the stories behind them. As we all know, any collection is the result of a series of conscious choices, and thus reveals a great deal about the person that collects them: just picture a collector you know and think of the collection as his/her portrait. But institutions do not make public their acquisition policies, so we forget that there are always individuals whose decisions shape the collections, and by extension (since they become the canon), our own understanding of the world.

The Vocal Archive of Florence Foster Jenkins at the Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, 2000.

Helguera is interested in bringing these individuals to the fore. In works like Parallell Lives, he has made visible the untold stories of people like Florence Foster Jenkins ("the world's worst opera singer ever"), or Ward Jackson, a Bartleby-like character he befriended at the Guggenheim, who had worked all his life there, tucked away in a corner of the building, and had become a sort of living archive of the museum.

Coming to the Penn Museum was a treat to Pablo. The director of the museum, Richard Hodges, embraced his project immediately, and granted him carte blanche. One of the museum curators, Bill Wierzbowski, provided access to both collections and his colleagues. Interviewing the staff, Pablo was able to find about many interesting, colorful characters that worked at various times at the institution. His eponymous piece will be a "subjective biography" of the Penn Museum done as a series of interviews that reference the original program. A facsimile of the original set will be built at the Penn Museum, where the videos will shown. We will also be airing a complete "season" of the program on youtube. Stay tuned!

José Roca.

12 to go

2010-01-17T11:11:00.018-05:00

Erick Beltrán, State of Things (Strategy and Counterstrategy), 2010

Preliminary sketch for an interactive installation at the Print Center.

Dear friends:

Barcelona-based Mexican artist Erick Beltrán arrived today. He will be doing a project at the Print Center, especially conceived for Philagrafika.

Beltrán's work delves into how information is put together and organized, by whom and to what ends, and so his projects often expose the randomness and arbitrariness of such ordering principles and taxonomies. The library, the archive and the museum are constant sources of inspiration -or rather his points of departure. He deconstructs visual systems to address issues like editing and cultural translation; his works insert themselves like viruses into existing information systems, and often explore the threshold of legibility and chaos.

La Nación Inverted, 2006.

Correo do Povo (negative), 2006.

He has done subtle but radical interventions in printed media, like removing all punctuation marks on the entire edition of a newspaper in Brazil and replacing them with the tiny icon of a running man; removing altogether all punctuation marks on a Dutch newspaper; printing a Brazilian newspaper in negative; or printing a newspaper in Chile with texts and words inverted (La Nación Inverted, 2006). In these works, Beltrán breaks the communicative role of the news, highlighting the quality of the paper as a tridimensional object, devoid of its role as purveyor of information. The Encyclopedia being the embodiment of universal culture -whose hierarchies follow specific sociopolitical agendas- it has been a subject for Beltrán's recent projects. He has culled information from the mass media and reordered it following his own system (Encyclopedia, 2005); edited a 300-page newspaper that explains "how ideas are gathered together", a sort of snapshot of the maturation of an argument and the process of constructing a discourse (Ostwald Ripening, 2006) ; or asked the public to provide the content of an encyclopedia of non-specialized knowledge, which got processed and printed in real time (The World Explained, for the 2008 Sao Paulo Bienal).

The World Explained, 2008.

Ostwald's Ripening, 2006.

His project for the Print Center is titled State of Things (Strategy and Counterstrategy), and will be a hands-on model (like the one in a war room) where viewers can rearrange "armies" of symbols in attempt to give visual form to the current news. A blackboard with diagrams explaining the strategies will also be part of the piece. John Caperton, curator at the Print Center, is managing the myriad details of this complex project.

José Roca

13 days out

2010-01-16T10:49:00.005-05:00

Dear friends: many of the Independent Projects are already under way, and since we have almost 80 partners it will be difficult for anyone to see them all. But we'll try, and between Philagrafika staff, interns and board members we will be covering as much ground as we can and reporting to you via this blog.

Last night I attended the opening at the Fleisher Art memorial, where three shows from their Challenge Exhibitions series were on view. One of them was Heather Ujie's Ninja Warrior Face-off!, an interesting meditation on the traditional Japanese woodcut, done in a combination of embroidery and digital printing. Perhaps intended as a visual pun on Ukiyo-e (pictures from the floating world), images of Samurai warriors, digitally printed on a translucent material, were hung at various levels in front of the embroidered backdrop, interacting with it in changing and unexpected ways. Scores of round printed flowers further added to the dreamscape. Also, as part of Philagrafika, Fleisher will be having a show of Brooklyn-based artist in residence George Ferrandi, who has been working with the community towards a collective performance in the form of a procession that will take place in April 24th.

Bathroom, please?

2010-01-15T15:35:00.009-05:00

When you visit the Print Center don't refrain from using the restroom. In fact, make a point of going there! The toilet seat has been sandblasted by Eric Avery and is sure to leave a lasting impression on you. Eric will have instructive wallpaper on how to use the male and female condom and there will be a roll of printed toilet paper as well. Those of you that have been following this blog will probably be familiar with Dr. Avery's work, one that straddles medicine and art. He will be here for the opening, Sharpie marker in tow, signing "prints" and photographs might also be taken. Models wanted.

Maira Kalman and Rick Meyerowitz, Newyorkistan, cover of The New Yorker, December 10, 2001.

Last night I attended the opening and gallery walkthrough of illustrator Maira Kalman's exhibition at the ICA. She is the author of the famous Newyorkistan cover for the New Yorker. The show was curated by Ingrid Schaffner, chief curator at the ICA, who collaborated with Kalman to achieve a beautiful balance of drawings and objects.

José Roca.

Insects at Moore!!

2010-01-14T14:01:00.013-05:00

Vinyl specialist Gibbs Connors and his team working on the installation.

Moore College of Art & Design's Paley gallery is infested with a plague that came from Brazil. It's Regina Silveira's Mundus Admirabilis, an installation done with plotter-cut vinyl. The images of the insects come from a variety of sources, most of them 18th and 19th-Century entomology books, which are combined and juxtaposed to form a dense pattern of legs, wings, feelers and all kinds of hairy parts. In the midst of the space there will be a table with an embroidered cloth, set with screen-printed white china with similar motifs.

This installation makes part of a larger exhibition that the artist had in Sao Paulo on the theme of the biblical plagues. As Lorie Mertes, Director and Chief Curator of the galleries at Moore has remarked, "instead of locusts, hail and pestilence, Silveira uses a domestic setting invaded by common pests to suggest that the plagues in our own time are the images that contaminate our everyday existence: crime and violence, degradation of the environment, corruption, and other ills that invade our lives and psyches."

Moore Curatorial studies major Monika Kuder worked for two months at Gibbs Connors' studio, "weeding" more than a thousand feet of vinyl to reveal the image in Regina's work. Check this link for more details on the process.

Paul Morrison, Phytochrome, 2008. Acrylic paint on wall. Site-specific installation for LvaM, Las Vegas. Image courtesy of the artist and Alison Jacques Gallery, London.

Also working from old illustrated books, British artist Paul Morrison creates enigmatic collages where the proportions of the components are skewed to produce a sense of uncanniness. When blown to architectural proportions, these collages acquire an impressive presence, and to experience them is like stepping inside an oversized children's book gone awry (not that I've done that, though!)

The stencil gets affixed to the prepared surface

Then the surfaces that will be painted are peeled away.

Paint gets applied and the stencil removed

... and the work gets assembled.

As I reported before, Paul's lovely assistant Bianka spent almost two weeks preparing the stenciled mural, which will go up on a long wall on Moore's façade on 20th street when the climate gets a little warmer (by the way, the forecast for the last weeks of January looks promising -surely the only side benefit of global warming).

José Roca.

16 days out

2010-01-13T13:57:00.013-05:00

Sharon, Amy, and Miler's assistant Andrés busy at work in the production line.

Dear friends.

Today I visited the Arthur Ross Gallery at the University of Pennsylvania, who is hosting one of the Independent Projects, to see how Miler Lagos' project is unfolding. And it is, in a big way! Ten boxes, each one weighing half a ton, are filled to the brim with newspapers that will be carefully unfolded, glued together and then rolled into a round disk almost 6 feet in diameter. The surface of the disk will then be sanded with a power tool -and get burnt in the process- and will end up looking as a cross-section of a giant log, growth circles and all.

Miler Lagos showing the core of the disk. The roll you see is a whole

morning's worth of collective work. Long days await him...

Cimiento (Foundation), (2007), stack of 6000 offset prints, sculpted into the form of a tree.

Miler has done similar projects in the past, symbolically returning paper to its origin in wood, reversing the process from culture to nature. For example, he has stacked reproductions of Durer's prints, and then sculpted them into tree stumps. For Other Florae, an exhibition I curated in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2008, he did a floor-to-bottom tree out of stacked newspapers that despite being for the most part just cut paper (not burnt with a sanding tool), was surprisingly realistic even when seen up close.

View of the exhibition at Nara Roesler gallery in Sao Paulo. Miler's tree is in the foreground.

The piece for Philagrafika 2010, titled Silence Dogood (Benjamin Franklin's early pseudonym), will be more abstract and minimal, and will be accompanied with a cube also carved out of compressed newspaper in the form of a "throne", which is meant to symbolize the power of the press.

The project is curated by Lynn Marsden-Atlass, Director of the Arthur Ross Gallery, and has been put together by her energetic team. A group of volunteers from UPenn is helping Miler and his assistant take on the daunting task of turning discarded newspapers into sculptural form.

For those interested in knowing more about Miler's process, he is giving a talk at Penn on January 27 at 5:30pm. Check the website for details.

Last but not least, Out of Print artist Lisa Anne Auerbach (who will be showing her work The Tract House at the American Philosophical Society) is having a knitting event at National Mechanics (3rd street between spruce and Market, 6-8pm). Hope you can come.

José Roca.

Guidebooks are here!

2010-01-12T21:56:00.008-05:00

Dear friends:

The Guidebooks and Maps arrived today. They were conceived as tools that will help the viewers navigate through the festival. With almost 90 sites throughout the city, we needed a system that would allow for fast and easy location of a given project. We were ready to sacrifice great design for great readability but, thanks to designer Tony Smyrski and Editorial Advisor Joseph Newland, we did not have to compromise. The Guidebook is stylish AND easy to read. It will be available at the bookstores at selected venues.

The Map, put together by Dave Brett, taught us that there is nothing more difficult than making something that is clean, simple and uncluttered but that still packs an incredible wealth of information. Guidebook and Map were project-managed by our own Caitlin Perkins and Rebecca Mott, respectively. The map, which will be given to the public for free, can live beyond Philagrafika 2010 and become the unofficial culture map of Philadelphia, since most of the cultural institutions in the city are participating in Philagrafika. Same with the Guidebook: need the phone number of the Philadelphia Center for the Book? it's there. Want to know if The Clay Studio is open on Saturdays? it's also there. Wondering if admission is free at the Main Line Art Center? All there, as well as the street addresses and websites of all of our partners.

The cover of the Guidebook is a public acknowledgement of the hardships that come with putting together such a complex show. It's our (graphic) unconscious anguish coming to the surface. Carl Pope, one of the artists in the exhibition, kindly allowed us to reproduce one of the posters for his 2005 project The Bad Air Smelled of Roses. We are grateful to Carl for his generosity.

José Roca.

18 days to go

2010-01-11T09:46:00.011-05:00

Photo by Shayna V. McConville.

Dear friends:

Carl Pope just came into town for the final stretch of his wonderful project The Wall Remixed, which results from his collaboration with Mary Hulick and Homer Jackson, and is produced by the Mural Arts Program, Temple gallery, and Philagrafika. They have been working for quite a while with young boys and girls in Philly, designing advertising billboards and flyers for several small businesses and non profit organizations in North central Philadelphia. The ads will be visible in March.

Swoon at work. Photo by Shayna V. McConville.

In her usual incognito fashion, Swoon has started pasting her woodcuts in several sites around Philadelphia. More will follow as the festival begins.

Check out the coverage by Universes in Universe, the leading and most respected portal for the art from Africa, Latin America and Asia pacific. Gerhard Haupt and Pat Binder, longtime supporters, have included us in their newsletter, which reaches over 13 thousand subscribers around the world (also in Spanish and German.)

José Roca.

19 days to go

2010-01-10T11:54:00.011-05:00

View of the structure of Space 1026's yurt at the Print center.

Dear friends.

Although it is Sunday, for us, the Philagrafika staff, it means preparing for a busy week when many artists are coming into town. Some have already started their works: Paul Morrison's assistant, Bianka Craanen, already finished the spectacular mural that is going to grace Moore's façade on 20th street; Kiki smith oversaw the installation of her delicate collaged lithographies at PAFA; Miler Lagos is starting to pile thousands of newspapers in stacks for his carved "throne" at the Arthur Ross gallery; Francesc Ruiz and Pablo Helguera are printing newspapers, magazines and a book; Duke Riley has been canoeing (!!!), and our own Space 1026 members have been busy putting together the structure for the oversize Yurt that will become a reading room-cum-lounge space at the Print Center. True to their collective spirit, Space members are sharing the job of printing cloth tiles that will be sewn into the yurt's covering, building the structure, the seating, etc. It is going to be quite a sight!!

John Caperton, curator at the Print Center, and Justin from Space 1026 discuss the cladding of the yurt.

Some of the silkscreened fabrics that will be used for the walls.

Last night we attended the Gala for the Brodsky Center for Innovative Editions at Rutgers University, where the indefatigable Judy Brodsky, President of the Board of Philagrafika, was honoring Kiki Smith. On her brief but moving acceptance speech, Kiki had the generosity to speak about Philagrafika, which she referred to as the world's leading festival regarding the pervasiveness of print in contemporary art. We hope the enthusiasm and interest towards our project that was felt at the Brodsky Center is contagious, and that the buzz that opinion-makers like Kiki are capable of generating will mean a massive attendance to the festival.

More reporting tomorrow.

José Roca.

Countdown for Philagrafika 2010

2010-01-09T23:24:00.005-05:00

Views of installation in progress at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

Dear friends:

In 20 days, Philagrafika 2010 will be open to the public. It has been almost five years in the planning, many countries visited, innumerable talks and conferences, and hard and sustained collaborative effort. Those of you that have been following the blog are familiar with the process through the reports and the interviews with the artists that I have been posting for more than two years.

On January 29th, and until April 11th, Philadelphia will be the world destination for all things Print. 35 artists in five sites for the core show, titled The Graphic Unconscious; five artists working with five historical collections for a program titled Out Of Print; and more than 300 other artists in almost 80 partner sites that are doing independent projects. A wide array of work, from traditional approaches to expanded understandings of the print; several national and international conferences, and a broad spectrum of programs will complement the exhibitions.

As of today, I will be blogging each day until the 29th, to report on the development of the installation of Philagrafika. Stay tuned to the countdown!

José Roca.

2009-09-23T01:31:00.001-05:00

YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES is yhchang.com. Its C.E.O., Young-hae Chang (Korea), and its C.I.O., Marc Voge (USA) are based in Seoul. YHCHI has made work in 16 languages and presented much of it at the following institutions: Tate, London, the Centre Pompidou, Paris, the Whitney Museum, New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Getty Center, Los Angeles, the Moderna Museet, Stockholm, the Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona, the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Venice Biennial, the Fukuoka Asian Art Triennial, the São Paulo Biennial, the Kitakyushu Biennial, and the Istanbul Biennial.

Using mostly jazz musical forms, a plain typeface (Monaco) and Flash animation technology, Chang and Voge have built a body of Web-based works that present seductive, acerbic and sophisticated narratives. Clicking on a title or a link activates a story that unfurls as type in the browser window, each work experienced at its own pace without stopping, providing an experience somewhere between a reading and a movie. Their work dispenses with the usual interactivity and other characteristics of Web-based media; most works are offered in several languages and the socio-political consciousness of the text is emphasized via the screen’s material effects—type size and weight, velocity and duration. The works engage modernist structures, the intelligibility of language, notions of text and subtext, and both evoke and update print-based experiences.

If you really want to see their resumé, go to this link: http://www.yhchang.com/RESUMAY_I.html

This interview was done via email.

J. Roca.

José Roca: Printmaking has been often defined as having three components: a matrix, a medium (ink) and a support (surface), its main feature being its repeatability. Do you see the web as a matrix, and web-based work as a kind of print-in-potency?

YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES: We've never considered those components. We've never considered our work to have much to do with print and printmaking.

JR: Fair enough. But in my opinion, the web can be understood as a contemporary version of the wheat-pasted poster or the pamphlet in its capacity of addressing the public sphere.

YHCHI: Uh-huh.

JR: For the new Museum you did (I believe for the first time) a multi-channel installation, displacing the experience of the piece—from a static relation with the screen to an implied movement of the body in space. Is this a new direction that you are interested in pursuing?

YHCHI: Yes, by all means, as long as the opportunities present themselves. Maybe Philagrafika?

JR: Maybe! I believe that installation was offline, due to the technical difficulties to sync seven screens to maintain the pace of the narratives. The implication is that the work can be objectified as a video installation: it exists as an object and not just as information that flows on the web. Is it also a new direction?

YHCHI: Great, thanks for the enthusiastic "Maybe!" Actually, we've been doing offline work for many years now. In that sense, our New Museum installation isn't a new direction. Technologically, it was never a question of doing the installation online. As for our moving from the virtual to the real, we, like so many others these days, have done it more or less seamlessly. It's sort of like having switched from the printed version to the online version of the New York Times without thinking much about the objective difference. Which is not to say that it's the same thing when it comes to books, as you're well aware, we're sure, of the discussion around that.

JR: I only brought it up because in a talk I recently attended at Temple Gallery in Philadelphia, one of the curators of that show did say that the question of the work being online or not had been a point of disagreement. So it’s great to learn that it finally did not become a relevant issue.

Type is featured prominently in your work, as is music, particularly jazz. You use Monaco typeface, which was designed for Macs and has been rated as one of the best fonts for programming due to consistency and legibility.

YHCHI: No kidding. It's news to us that the Monaco font does what you say it does. We chose it for the name.

JR: Really? I would have thought that you are actually interested in the graphic image and all it entails, since on interviews you have done with other artists you stress the importance of the graphic style and language. Maybe just in the work of others?

YHCHI: Well, notwithstanding that we say a lot of things that we immediately either forget or contradict, including possible comments in an interview you're referring to, we do remember having said somewhere that we're uninterested in graphic art and typography. Which is true. We like to believe we're all about content. We like the Monaco font—the way some may have liked the Mao jacket—a uniform that you put on every day without thinking, without having to worry about fashion or dress code.

JR: The consistent use of a particular font and type of music has let you concentrate on content and not form, but paradoxically it has resulted in a distinct style, your trademark visuals and sound… I guess it’s unavoidable.

What is the reasoning behind the choice of music?

YHCHI: We're like everyone, we suppose. We like the music we like. Moreover, since we started making all the music for our works several years ago, we make what we can make. We're not really musicians, we have no musical talent, so we do what we can. We also believe that any sound can go with any situation. Tap your foot, drum on the table, whistle, it's all meaningful then and there.

JR: Many so-called Web artists take advantage of what Internet distinctly offers, one of them being interactivity, the other the possibility of (at least potentially) universal access. Since interactivity is completely shunned in your works, could we say that what interests you more about the medium you use is dissemination and accessibility?

YHCHI: Yes, but what interests us even more is artistry.

JR: North Korea appears on several of your works as an antagonistic force—literal or metaphorical. Internet access there is still very scarce and limited to government officials; have you been contacted by anyone in North Korea, and if so, has any meaningful conversation ensued?

YHCHI: Kim Jong-il, the Dear Leader, invited us to communicate his text, CUNNILINGUS IN NORTH KOREA (http://www.yhchang.com/CUNNILINGUS_IN_NORTH_KOREA.html).

JR: Your works are in the collection of several museums and institutions such as the Pompidou Center in Paris, The Samsung Museum in Seoul and the MEIAC in Madrid. How does web art get commercialized? What exactly does the collecting institution own, since all your works are publicly distributed on the web? Would you care to speak more about this protocol?

YHCHI: Using our own work as an example, we can confirm that Web art is bought and sold like any other art form. An art institution that acquires our work owns a digital file and has the right to exhibit it in public, usually projected or on a plasma screen. A private collector can do the same thing in his/her home, over the couch in the living room, for instance.

JR: It has been said that the CIO of a company is usually too busy keeping the ship's engines running smoothly to come up onto the command deck and make suggestions to the captain (CEO) on course changes. Does this characterization fit the division of labor within your industry?

YHCHI: Yes. Indeed, the C.I.O. of our company does the heavy lifting belowdecks while the C.E.O. watches the horizon from the bridge. The C.I.O. gets his hands dirty, while the C.E.O. wears spotless white gloves. The C.I.O. has a lot to say. The C.E.O. speaks little except when necessary to navigate the ship.

JR: Warhol, whose nonchalance in answering interviews was legendary (as yours is becoming), also invoked an industrial metaphor to name his studio/practice. He famously said at some point that you always paint the same painting. Are you taking some cues from the Pop(e)?

YHCHI: Warhol's attitiude toward art has probably subconsciously influenced many artists' public personas, including ours. Since you bring it up, if we think about it, yes, you can never be too nonchalant. Otherwise, you fall into the category of the romantic—the brilliant artist who agonizes over every brushstroke. There is no in-between. Artists are extremists. Once you pay attention to the gray area in-between you become like everyone else: considerate, thoughtful, measured, responsible. You're mistaken for a smart guy. And everyone knows where the smart guys have led us these days. So, given the choice, Warholian nonchalance seems to be more appropriate for artists today.

Interview: Jenny Schmid

2009-08-25T10:22:00.002-05:00

Curse of the Older Man, from the series The Downfall of Young Girls. Lithograph, 22 x 30"

Jenny Schmid is an artist and master printmaker working out of Minneapolis, where she is an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota and runs Bikini Press International, “the tripped-out print studio of her dreams.” It is from this studio where she produces her prints and plots her performances. Her work is informed by many diverse sources such as comics, rock music, feminist theory, illustration, Japanese woodcuts, medieval engravings and the art of Pieter Bruegel. Schmid deftly mixes these sources with her own signature aesthetics, comprised of a deceptive and improbable mix of cute and dangerous, rosy and troubled. In her intricate tableaux, big-headed characters that barely fit the scenic space of the paper have existential dilemmas while multiple stories unfold in relation to them. Schmid’s works are often informed by gender issues and address social concerns with a joyous, ironic detachment, ripe with humor and satire. In recent years she has started ongoing collaborations with other artists and musicians, animating her drawings in live performances conducted in public spaces.
This interview was done via email.

J. Roca.

The guys at Cannonball Press have stated that you were saved from an oppressive suburbia at 16 by printmaking. Jokes aside, can you expand on the central role of printmaking in your work and the possibilities it enabled in terms of accessibility and dissemination?

Printmaking is a place where I can use both my logical abilities and creative mind. The medium offers a lifetime challenge and as my skills evolve, the technical and aesthetic problems that I set up for myself demand more and more patience and focus. I get addicted to the feeling of total concentration as if it were a drug. I am attracted to how it demands an ability to work through complicated processes, but that you also have to pay close attention and be able to respond to what is happening in the moment, not just follow a rote set of instructions.

That said, I don't like the idea that the medium is the first thing I think of- I just honestly think that for my work, the medium offers me the best expression of my ideas in its ability to reference history, be direct and graphic and have an affinity with contemporary comics. I love the graphic image and have since I was very young. I also dig the tradition of satire in the history of printmaking, of inserting a sneaky jab into what seems like on the surface to be something simply funny.

Floating World, from the series The Downfall of Young Girls. Lithograph and ink-jet chine collé, 22 x 30"

By working in multiples (and sometimes making t-shirts, buttons, etc.) I create work that is more affordable and gets out into the world. I am flattered to be part of the community that Cannonball Press has created where young people can afford some of my work because, after all, they are my main inspiration and subject matter. Teens tend to really respond to my work too, and have asked me some of the best questions! Less obvious might be the possibilities embodied in my current explorations into vector drawings that can easily scale and translate into handmade prints, live projections and animations. I see a lot of democratic potential in this translation and my work in Philagrafika will reflect this new research.

The Charmer, from the series The Sleazy People. Lithograph, 11 x 15"

The live projections you do in collaboration with Ali Momeni and the flash animations you do with Patrick Holbrook are both very complex, each using different media like drawing, computer software, and music. Some of these drawings have, in turn, been blown up and made into linocuts. You seem to oscillate between traditional methods and cutting-edge technology, with various media mutually informing each other. Your large print at The Soap Factory can be read as a storyboard for a complex series of histories. Have you considered developing more narrative short films based on this or other prints?

At this point, I am feeling a little restrained by linear narrative and wanting to find more associative, subconscious links between events and characters to give the work more magnitude. That is why I recently turned to the panorama format for The Wild People and Fountain of Youth and the third in the series of digital and lithography prints, Animalandia. I wanted the panorama to be read in a narrative way AND simultaneously and I liked how the large format inspired both a linear and whole picture viewing of the pieces. But I did see the use of digital and drawn as related to and potentially becoming animations.

Fountain of Youth (2008). Lithograph and archival inkjet, 26 x 90"

The first animation I did with Patrick Holbrook, Minneapolis has a strong narrative and meaning- the corruption of the iconic teenage girl. I wanted to give a very direct, if absurd, explanation as to why my girls' heads are so big. Patrick did all of the animating in that project, as I was unfamiliar with Flash at that time, and Dave Schroeder did the sounds and music. I was using the tablet pen to draw into PhotoShop and learning the trickery of this indirect drawing tool, where you are looking at the screen and drawing on a tablet. This was my first collaboration and it pointed me in some fresh directions. Patrick is a unique person in that he has an interest in technology but such a funny and inventive approach to narrative, where it all has complex meaning but it would never be something you could figure out on the surface. We have these great brainstorming sessions where we make lists of themes rather than making a storyboard. Patrick just says stuff like "interspecies communication" and we laugh hysterically but then it works its way into the project in ways that are surprising.

Video stills from Utopia: In Progress. digital animation.

For the second project, Utopia: In Progress (2007) we tried to free up the narrative and I think, in some ways, it is successfully confusing. For this project, I started drawing directly into Flash and was able to have some involvement in the technology. Patrick is also such a good teacher and I was also working with a graduate student printmaker, Nicholas Conbere, to figure out how Flash would work for us and consider the relationship of printmaking with animation.

I love learning new techniques and animation seemed like such a natural direction for my cartoon-influenced work. I also like thinking how the image can travel and be manifested through different media- sometimes scanning, resizing, copying, hand-tracing, photo-exposing, hand-printing, etc. to move through the full range of technologies from every era. The computer and ink-jet printer and I have grown up and developed together and the people from my generation using digital technology for creative purposes come from an era where we had to teach ourselves or each other. I like to call myself an outsider animator, as my process is ridiculously slow and probably more invested in drawing than animating. The tablet pen has allowed me to free up my drawing style a bit, as editing is so much easier than when dealing with pencil and eraser. I even format my etching compositions by resizing and positioning scanned drawings in the computer and printing them out and then transferring them to the plate with soft ground- kind of a sacrilegious marriage that is a mixture of New World efficiency and Old World labor.

The Eyes and Ears and The Truth Itself: No People Allowed

My live animation performances with Ali Momeni and Minneapolis Art on Wheels have been exciting and challenging. Its invigorating to experiment with someone who is on the forefront of creative technology but who still appreciates drawing and manual animations. Projecting outside to a sometimes unsuspecting audience and working live with a loose narrative as in Battle Scene puts a spin on the sense of control I often have in printmaking. I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity and I hope to continue to work with Ali and MAW.

Jenny Schmid and Ali Momeni performing The Eyes and Ears and The Truth Itself: No People Allowed

The Pathetic end of Machismo. Lithograph, 15 x 20"

Young women are often portrayed in your work. Does your work embody a sort of tongue-in-cheek feminist aesthetic?

I have a background and interest in politics and do a lot of research on feminism as gender liberation. I feel strongly that individuals should be able to define themselves and not be oppressed by gender expectations and that is how I define feminism. I have no idea why some people think feminism is some kind of dirty word- feminists invented free love, which is essentially the idea that you get to love who you want and be with who you love. Feminists invented sex for fun by advocating for birth control. And I love working with young people and seeing how they creatively resist mainstream gender expectations.

Teen Boy Cataclysm, from the series The Teens. Lithograph, 13 x 19"

In my more recent work, I have actually been portraying a lot of boys and they are often lounging around, reading or otherwise functioning as the object of the female gaze. I like flipping traditional roles and also have been portraying girls as skateboarders, drummers, or pirates. I love people who are willing to be themselves and fly their freak flag no matter what, and I am on the lookout for them in my daily life. I also enjoy how humorous images can coax a viewer into the work and maybe into a discussion that they would otherwise shy away from. My most popular print to date has been The Pathetic End of Machismo which employs a style not unlike a turn of the century political cartoon aesthetic to address a future moment of triumph!

Rock Dove; Buffalo Girl's Revenge. Lithograph, 15 x 20"