Picturing the West, Yokohama Prints 1859-1870s

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/

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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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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