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The
exhibition announcement states, "In 2001, we are thrilled to see how reality's
opposites - economy and richness, dark and light, the forceful and restrained
- are as fresh as ever and are the very heart of printmaking." This is
vividly, wonderfully clear in this exhibition with hard edge abstractions
by Richard Anuszkiewicz; soft ground etchings by Joseph Solman; incisive
and suggestive aquatints by the Italian artist Luisa Bertani; Sally Brody's
colorful monoprint landscapes; and Alan Petrulis' remarkably precise renderings
which go into depth in an astonishing way; imaginative and lively black
and white etchings by Richard Sloat; and Michael Di Cerbo's light rectangular
windows in dark soaring skyscrapers.
The Terrain Gallery's first
print exhibition, Meaning in Immediacy, (1958) showed work by 23
artists, including Altman, Baskin, Barnet, Casarella, Castellon, Citron,
Conover, Grippi, Leiber, Longo, Peterdi, and Ponce de Leon. The exhibition
catalog stated: "The prints of the current exhibition show the directions
of printmaking today and show, too, what is in the minds of persons. Our
own thoughts and emotions in their immediacy can take on a wider and richer
meaning through seeing a relation to what goes on in art. This is the study
of Aesthetic Realism and art itself."
The landmark exhibition, Definition
Is Wonder (1961), organized by artist and printmaker Chaim Koppelman,
exhibited works by 36 of America's most respected printmakers. Artists
and curators, among them Elizabeth Erlanger, Winslow Ames, Robert Conover,
A. Hyatt Mayor, Gladys Mock, and Doris Seidler, all commented in the catalogue
on The Siegel Theory of Opposites and the art of the print, and on Eli
Siegel's poem, "The Print and the Opposites with these opening stanzas:
What purpose has the maker
of a print?
His mind goes after what effect?
Are depth and surface aimed
at, at one time-
A goal suggestive and direct?
Is meaning sought for through
the visual?-
A sense of evil through a shape?
Can dots, while going forward,
yet retreat?
Can mass be bold and yet escape? |
| In 1967,
there was, Surface to Begin With: Silkscreen Prints, an exhibition
of 30 artists in cooperation with Chiron Press, Tanglewood Press, Amel,
Feigen, Fischbach, Kornblee & Pace galleries - one of the first all
silkscreen shows.
In the years since, the gallery
has continued championing the printmaker's art, showing work by Burton
Hasen, Alex Katz, Michael Knigin, Nicholas Krushenick, Roy Lichtenstein,
Charles Magistro, George Nama, Steve Poleski, Clare Romano, Carol Rosen,
John Ross, and Lynd Ward, among others. |
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Takayo Noda
Etching
The View
Courtesy of the Artist
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As an observer of the art scene,
and a person who cares very much for the print, I know that artists' lives
and art itself would have benefitted enormously if the press, including
the art press, had been fair to Aesthetic Realism and Eli Siegel all these
years instead of being angry that they had so much to learn from them.
How wonderful for art and life that with the new millennium a decades-long
boycott is finally ending!
Ongoing events at the Terrain
Gallery include art talks every Saturday at 2:30 PM, free to the public,
part of the series now in its 18th year titled: The Aesthetic Realism
of Eli Siegel Shows How Art Answers the Questions of Your Life!
The exhibition runs through
September. For more information call (212) 777-4490; and visit www.AestheticRealism.org
and www.TerrainGallery.org.
Richard Sloat
Etching
Summer Festival
Courtesy of the Artist
A not for profit educational
foundation
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In SoHo, off West Houston