PRINTERESTING » election day prints

Towards a New Theory of Color Reading

Jason Urban — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:14:14 +0000

This post shares its title with an installation/sculpture/printwork by Stephanie Syjuco currently on view (sorry- the show ended yesterday) at the Contemporary Art Museum in Houston, TX. Towards a New Theory of Color Reading is part of Syjuco’s solo exhibition, Total Fabrication. The piece consists of three offset “newspapers” in editions of 2000 displayed on palettes and free for museum visitors to take. Each of the three papers is based upon local Houston journals that cater to particular ethnic constituencies… El Dia (Spanish-Language), the Houston Forward Times (African-American), and the Manila Headline (Filipino-American).

Syjuco was inspired by the election of Barack Obama, America’s first bi-racial president, to translate newpapers geared to limited audiences into a more common language, in this case the language of color. Each newspaper was reduced to four colors: Black (newspaper info like headlines and pagination), Yellow (text), Blue (photos), and Red (advertisements). Syjuco’s color system was applied to the election day editions of each of the three papers.

Syjuco was born in the Philippines and lives and works in San Francisco, CA. According to the exhibition didactic, re-occurring themes in her work include mistranslation and misidentification, minimalist aesthetics, important historical moments, and the conventions of communication and museums.

This piece was really impressive in person- like a some kind of Bauhaus propaganda storage room. Gropius would be proud. Quite relevant and timely on any number of levels. It speaks to a hopeful impulse that communication can flourish despite cultural differences.

CAM doesn’t allow visitors to take photos (?!?) so the picture of the installation is from Syjuco’s website; the rest of the pics are from my take-home copies of the newspapers. See more of the beautiful page spreads after the jump.

Election Day

RL Tillman — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:17:22 +0000

Source: Jason Needham, Flickr user hero artist

More Effects of Printmaking on Presidential Elections Past

RL Tillman — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 21:38:10 +0000

The election of 1896 was quite the affair. In fact, in terms of sheer drama, that campaign has long been considered “the gold standard.” (see what I did there?)

After his famously bombastic ‘Cross of Gold’ speech at the Democratic Convention, the gifted young orator William Jennings Bryan became the Party’s nominee. He went on to address giant crowds across the country, a break from the traditional American ‘front porch’ approach to presidential campaigning. His opponent William McKinley followed tradition, bringing voters to his own home, and depending on surrogate speakers in other parts of the country.

However, the Republican’s massive fundraising advantage did allow for significant innovations in campaign techniques. Mocking Bryan’s policy of abandoning the gold standard for the less valuable silver, McKinley’s operatives printed up fake dollars with a caricature of Bryan’s face reading “IN GOD WE TRUST/FOR THE OTHER 47 CENTS.”

A bit inscrutable from today’s perspective, I grant you… But clearly, elections and printmaking go way back.

The Effect of Printmaking on Presidential Elections Past

RL Tillman — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:46:46 +0000

Andy Warhol made this print about the 1972 election at Gemini GEL. In case you don’t remember, here’s how that one turned out:

Election Day

RL Tillman — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:05:03 +0000

Source: AIGA Get Out The Vote

Election Day

RL Tillman — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:26:55 +0000

Ladies, this Election Day leave your man at home in an apron with the kids and the cat. Exercise your Constitutional right to vote, and let that mustachioed knave do the printmaking for once!