Press Release

Recent Screenprints

Project Room: Andy Warhol, The Americans

June 5, 2003 – August 2, 2003

Stendhal Gallery’s inaugural exhibition, Recent Screenprints: Baechler, Bogin, Halley, Schnabel examines the relationship between aesthetics and technology in the context of the history of printmaking. This exciting exhibition not only situates the fine art print in a larger, historical context, but also brings to the fore the richness and creativity of the printmaking process. The Project Room features a special series of paintings, drawings, and prints depicting both real and mythical Americans by Andy Warhol, the champion of the contemporary screen print as an artistic medium. The exhibition consists of approximately 50 artworks, which challenge and redefine printmaking in terms of medium and method.

Initially, the nature of the print as a serially produced image was its most powerful characteristic. As a conveyor of visual information in the form of “exactly repeatable pictorial statements,” the printed image is credited with advances in the sciences as well as the humanities. Prints were often collected more for their information than for their artistry. An artist could disseminate and promote his work by creating prints himself or by commissioning prints that reproduced his work from a professional printmaker.

In the hands of an artist like Julian Schnabel, the print becomes a unique object, close to a painting or a drawing. The self-conscious notion of the original print has become increasingly predominant in the 20th century, culminating in the production of signed, limited editions. Original prints are paradoxically precious yet potentially replicable. Artists throughout the last century, including Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol, and Peter Halley, have sought to subvert this preciousness for political as well as aesthetic reasons.

Recent Screen prints illuminates the roles of artists, master printers, and publishers. The continual reinvention of the print bears witness to the tendency toward individual and collaborative participation in the development of new methods and the revival of old techniques.

All screen prints in the exhibition were produced by Andy Warhol’s master printer, Alexander Heinrici.
For additional information, or to receive a press kit, please contact Stendhal Gallery.

Stendhal | Gallery
545 West 20th Street
New York, NY 10011
T 212.366.1549
F 212.366.1531
www.stendhalgallery.com


Harry Stendhal

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