Contemporary Printmaking in Louisville: InterVentions: Re-Framing the Printed Image at 21c Museum and Hotel

The current printmaking exhibit hosted by 21c Museum and Hotel in Louisville Kentucky is an unexpected gem. In fact curated by an IUS Fine Arts faculty member, the show InterVentions: Re-framing the Printed Image is thought-provoking and multi-faceted. The show is centered around the concept of switching around the meaning of the printed images. With work from 11 different artists the pieces are varied in subject matter and technique but all manage to pose similar questions about the fluidity, identity, and the idea of the place of origin.

Many of these work fall somewhere inside of the idea of the “ready-made” work first coined by the artist Marcel Duchamp. This is to say the artists are taking images from other sources and redefining them. They do this in two ways either by using a found image and printing on top of it as Alexis Smith does in The Twentieth Century #15 (1983) or in literally redrawing and reimagining familiar images as Peregrine Honig does in her piece Father Gander Portfolio (2006).

Peregrine Honig, Father Gander Portfolio, 2006

In this piece Honig uses the image of three classic characters Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, and Goldilocks and places them in their typical setting of a forested path and then gives them a stage to reveal something new using the technique of lithography. She modernizes these one-dimensional Victorian era characters by putting them in the context of contemporary situations dealing with sexuality and innocence, which are insidious elements of the original tales themselves that the artist cleverly brings to the forefront. She does this by animating these characters in ways we aren’t used to seeing them. Both Hansel and Gretel are nearly naked and holding hands. Rapunzel is also barely clothed and holding scissors with a lock of her hair lying on the ground next to her. Cinderella has her dressed pulled up to show her leg. All four characters are looking right at the viewer and their gazes are not shrouded by sweetness. Underneath each circular print there is a handwritten sentence below to further push the audience to see these characters in a new way. The three framed works are accompanied by a fourth frame in which the artist has placed some writing about the trio in a typical story book type print explaining the different voices she has given to these characters.

In a different kind of appropriative style the artist Troels Carlsen uses Eugene Delacroix’s Orphan Girl at The Cemetery (1823) in a painted print and turns her into a bust made of half stone and half wax called Orphan Girl at The Cemetery as Block Candle (After Delacroix) (2014).

Troels Carlsen, Orphan Girl at the Cemetery as Block Candle (After Delacroix), 2014.

Staying closer to the original image of the work than Honig does Carlsen still offers the viewer something new to consider. Turning the subject into a stone bust suggests a kind of permanence and stability, perhaps even indicates trustworthiness. However when the viewer sees the melting candlesticks on top of her head and understands how she is melting her validity is in question. Carlsen’s subtle use of chance truly changes the narrative of the subject within this piece and offers the audience something totally new to consider.

In it’s entirety this show was enjoyable. The pieces were varied and all gave the viewer something plenty to think about. Although the subject matter and applied methods were all different there was an overarching theme that was interesting to consider in each peace. The works chosen from these 11 talented artists were thoughtful and so enjoyable to experience even for someone who isn’t all that familiar with printmaking techniques. Any appreciator of art would undoubtedly enjoy this show.