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The ArtBlog has a review by Kip Deeds of Imprint/Impact, a Philagrafika affiliate exhibition in Newtown, PA. Work in the show includes etchings by Sergei Tsvetkov (above), and an installation by Gail Deery (who alerted us to The ArtBlog review): There are so many independent projects at Philagrafika, and we won’t be able to visit them all! If you see a good review or are involved with a show, please send us photos, reviews, or links.  This post was written by Guest Contributor, Jena Osman. On February 18th, another installment of Philagrafika 2010’s Out of Print series made its debut. This time the collaboration was between Enrique Chagoya and the Rosenbach Museum and Library. The Rosenbach Museum was founded by two book-dealing brothers in the 1950s and contains such treasures as the only surviving copy of Ben Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac and the manuscript copy of James Joyce’s Ulysses. They also hold about 4000 prints by George Cruikshank, the 19th century British caricaturist perhaps best known for illustrating the works of Charles Dickens. The Rosenbach’s website tells us, In George Cruikshank’s time there were attempts (by bribe) to censor his work and even the royal family approached him in hopes of avoiding any further embarrassment from his brutal characterizations. Cruikshank was a populist artist whose socially critical images of drunkards and medical maladies were readily accessible through newspapers, magazines, books and broadsides. Artist Enrique Chagoya was invited to the Rosenbach, and after sifting through the Cruikshank treasure trove, he chose to make a print after Cruikshank’s etching “The Headache.” (see Chagoya’s version above and Cruikshank’s original below)  (image from http://www.vandaprints.com/image.php?id=13610) Chagoya’s version (which features President Obama suffering through the headache of trying to pass health care reform) is available as a takeaway at the exhibit, which also includes a small sampling of both Cruikshank’s and Chagoya’s works. Workshops are being held over the weekend where visitors can hand color Chagoya’s print.  Chagoya stated at his artist talk that the colors for his own edition are still being worked on. The print is being produced in collaboration with two Philadelphia print shops, C.R. Ettinger Studio and Silicon Gallery Fine Art Prints and includes both digital, chine collé and intaglio layers. During his slide presentation, Chagoya pointed to the many political satirists that have influenced his work: Goya, Jacques Caillot, Philip Guston, James Ensor, Victor Hugo, and the murals of Jose Clemente Orozco. You can see Chagoya’s version (featuring Ronald Reagan) of Goya’s “Contra el bien general” from The Disasters of War Series in the background.
This is a small exhibit, but definitely worth a visit. And while you’re at the Rosenbach, ask to see more of the Cruikshank prints or any of the other archival gems cached away there.
For anyone with lingering bookstore gift cards or a hankering to lighten up an otherwise dreary month with something cool, I give you: Jay Ryan’s latest collect of posters, Animals and Objects In and Out of Water. The book is the second volume collecting of work by the Chicago-area gig poster legend, the first, 100 Posters, 134 Squirrels: A Decade of Hot Dogs, Large Mammals, and Independent Rock: The Handcrafted Art of Jay Ryan came out in 2005, and was also published by Akashik Books and quickly went out of print. This volume features a foreword by the musician Andrew Bird and and an essay by Joe Meno. Anyone not familiar with Jay Ryan’s work visit his press, The Bird Machine and look at the pictures in this posting.
Read More After the Jump New Jay Ryan Book: Animals and Objects In and Out of Water Guest Post by Mary Tasillo
Someone involved in the creation of the new film “Sherlock Holmes” has a thing for type. If you’ve seen only the preview, you’ll have noticed the use of lead type blocks to spell or stamp out the movie’s title. (The letters come at you one by one, mimicking a typewriter’s action rather than that of the press.) When the film opens, the text “SHERLOCK HOLMES” has an impression to it. And throughout the movie, glyphs, handwriting, and period newspaper add texture to the set. See Sherlock Holmes leafing through a letterpress printed newspaper, replete with wood type. See Holmes and Watson pass a wall papered in broadside notices. For extra credit, figure out whether the design is historically accurate….
Brooklyn Day Dress by Meridith McNeal, Christopher Henry and Katherine Harmon have co-curated a lovely show titled: Maps as Art. The show is meant to dovetail with the launch of Katherine Harmon’s new book, Map as Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography.  If you don’t recognize Katherine Harmon by name you will by her good works, Harmon has been steadily producing interesting art books out her Seattle-based, Tributary Books. Tributary has put out such titles as Blackstock’s Collections: The Drawings of an Artistic Savant and, keeping with the cartographic, You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination. The Christopher Henry Gallery is a five year old exhibition space is located in a beautiful two story building (a former church?) just off of the Bowery in the Lower East Side. Firmly positioned in the vanguard of the migration of galleries away from the high rents of Chelsea, the Christopher Henry Gallery serves as a perfect example of why it’s totally charming to encounter art in a neighborhood that is not entirely an art mall. The curatorial statement describe their exhibition:
For many more images of the show, follow after the jump. Read More After the Jump The Maps as Art: Exhibition and Book UPDATE (11/25): Here’s a link to the new web home of PROCEED & BE BOLD!. Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. is the subject of Proceed and Be Bold!, a really great documentary that takes viewers on a journey through this unique letterpress printer’s life and work. Interviews with the artist himself, as well as his family, friends, and acquaintances, come together to form a compelling portrait of a complex man. Here’s the trailer…
Having just watched the film a few days ago, it’s quite inspirational and I highly recommend it. The film documents Kennedy’s amazing racially and socially-charged posters and performances, and it communicates his serious commitment to tradition and the handmade object. With Kennedy as the common ground, the story intertwines two seemingly disparate elements- the civil rights movement and the history of letterpress printing. Using the language of the past, Kennedy’s work speaks volumes about the present. There are some seriously funny moments, too, and a cameo appearance by Hatch Show Print. Track down a copy of this DVD. The full-length film is produced and directed by Laura Zinger of Brown Finch Films and was released in 2008. Unfortunately, BFF’s website appears to be down currently but you can click here to see Kennedy’s prints. You can see some pics of Kennedy’s posters after the jump… Read More After the Jump Proceed and Be Bold!
Probably one of the more interesting Print Week related exhibits was the Sister Corita Kent show at Zach Feuer Gallery in Chelsea. An extremely prolific artist, teacher and nun, Sister Corita was an amazing printer. Read past Printeresting posts about her here.
See more images from the show after the jump.
Abstracts, Jack Pierson’s recent show at Cheim & Read gallery focuses on the sculptural work of this prolific multi-disciplinary artist. Working with found letterforms from commercial signs he composes a range of beautifully minimal works that move the typographic forms far away from their functional origins. Many more images after the jump. Read More After the Jump Jack Pierson Deconstructing Typography Control:Print is a collaborative exhibition between The Royal College of Art and Parsons The New School for Design that is, according to exhibition materials, “considering the fate of ink on paper through explorations in design, craft, and technology.” It sounds serious because it is.
Guest Post by Katie Ries.
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