InterVentions: Re-framing the Printed Image - Curatorial Excellence at MAPC

The 2016 Mid America Print Council (MAPC) Conference: Print Matters, Printing Matters was held in Louisville Ky over the weekend. It brought print makers and educators from around the Midwest to teach workshops and share their work. Today’s review covers “InterVentions: Re-framing the Printed Image”, an exhibition curated by Susanna Crum, Assistant Professor of Fine Arts, Printmaking at Indiana university Southeast. Crums selections, as proposed in the exhibition statement, show how artists have appropriated, intervened upon and reinvented the printed image to reveal new interpretation of their impact and agency in our times. The works I will be reviewing speak to this notion of reinvention and re-evaluation of the printed image.

Kara Walker’s Exodus of Confederates from Atlanta

Kara Walker’s Exodus of Confederates from Atlanta, superimposes two silhouettes of exaggerated racist black caricatures over an image first published in Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War. The two silhouettes are of a African American woman and man stylized in similar fashion to racist civil war depictions of black Americans. The African American woman the larger of the two silhouettes faces right and is inked in black ink. Within this silhouette the stylized silhouette of the black American is created in the negative revealing the background of the image below. The stylization of the silhouettes hairs, head shape and lips are in the offensive manner of racist media from the civil war era and beyond. The background from Harper’s Pictorial History is a scene set in the civil war era. With horse and carriages old southern style homes, people dressed in clothing from the era. There are both African American and white people in the background image, with the African Americans engaged in various forms of work and subjugation. The scale of the silhouettes and the intertwining of the background exposes the racist history of the United States. The medium, print focuses on how those racist ideas are reproduced over and over.

This was a particularly bold piece because at first glance it seems to elevate the stereotype of the ‘negro’. While they silhouettes are stylized their heads are held high and they are at the primary focal point of the piece. The background serves as a constant reminder of the subjugation of the African American and the racist environments that have plagued America and it’s citizens since before its emancipation.

James Rosenquist, Silverbirds, from the portfolio High Technology and Mysticism: A Meeting Point

James Rosenquist’s “Silverbirds from the portfolio high Technology and mysticism: A Meeting point” is a collage with several photographed images layered atop one another with a circular geometric pattern covering the entire square of the image. The background appears to be a woman biting the gate of a cage or kennel, superimposed over her eyes and nose are the eyes and nose of a gorilla or monkey. A transparent text covers the upper third of the image and appears to read ‘silverbird’. In the style of a blueprint, there are sacred geometry patterns that touch the outer edge of the frame and center around the center of the image. The pattern also contains various circular patterns within it that appear to be numbered electrical symbols.

In the artist statement Rosenquist says that the rapid-fire succession of images and technology infiltrates nearly every aspect of life. He goes on to say that the collage is an effective way of capturing and representing contemporary life, because the blur between images creates a kind of motion in the mind. His Silverbirds image is reminiscent of first person views often seen in science fiction films where what the biotech human eye sees has computer generated imagery superimposed over it, creating augmented realities that aid and assist the eye. The idea of the collage as representative of the contemporary world is easily scene in today's popular culture. With the way we create music, movies and multimedia by slicing, and remixing ideas and designs from multiple people and sources to create masterful works. This remixing of ideas, mediums and previously constructed works to create new works could be considered a form of collage.

Peregrine Honig, Father Gander portfolio

Peregrine Honig, Edible Complex from the Father Gander portfolio

Peregrine Honig’s Father Gander Portfolio uses familiar folktales to talk about relationships between sexual vulnerability, social anxieties, and consumer culture. There are four images from the portfolio on display. Edible Complex shows Hansel and Gretel walking hand and hand topless. Their bodies prepubescent, their gender is ambiguous, only discernible by the style of underwear and hairstyles. The background is a monochromatic silhouette of a forest that recedes back with implied one point perspective. The illustration is captioned in cursive handwriting that says ‘Watch your way on the forest floor - the house of vice has a gingerbread door’. The pastel colors and simplistic design of the forms resemble children's story book illustrations. The ambiguity of the figures explores childlike innocence and how that is challenged by puberty and vice.

“InterVentions” was a well curated exhibition. The multiple artists and works selected displayed a wide variety of concepts and methods that indeed re-frame the printed image. From Rosenquist’s depictions of the contemporary world through collage works and Walker’s exploration of race and history “InterVentions” delivers a multitude of examples of contemporary printmaking works that reach a point of relevance on many different levels. The works chosen all seem to flow well together and each piece challenges social norms in their own way. The exhibit is open throughout the rest of the month and I recommend a visit to 21c Museum to see it before the collection is returned to the archives.

- Paul Robey