Print Center
1614 Latimer Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103

Two Exhibitions Opening Thursday, February 26 at The Print Center - disorder: Susan White and Pulling from History: The Old Masters

disorder: Susan White
February 26 – May 16, 2009

Thursday, February 26
Gallery Talks by Susan White and John Caperton, Curator: 5:30pm
Opening Reception: 5:30-7:30pm

PHILADELPHIA: The Print Center announces disorder, a site specific installation by Philadelphia artist Susan White. Created to fill an entire gallery of The Print Center, the exhibition will include collaged printed works, as well as altered books.

White’s installation is an extended meditation on what makes up a book. In her work, the book is deconstructed into its individual parts – words, pages, covers, as well as being subverted for other uses. In earlier works, books became beehives and vessels for honey. Throughout, the book is seen as something that can be changed; content and components become fluid. In disorder, the parts of a book are exploded to a huge scale. The patterns of marbleized paper used for book covers take over the walls of the gallery, resembling microscopic views of cancerous cells. Words lifted from books take on a life of their own, as they form clusters and new sentences. Books are also attached directly to the wall, their covers and pages burrowed through as if by insects, revealing words and phrases within. Instead of being static tomes of facts and knowledge, in White’s hands books become opportunities for improvisation and poetry.

White received her BFA from Moore College of Art and Design and her MFA in Book Arts from The University of the Arts. Currently she teaches printmaking at The University of the Arts and Drexel University. Her work has recently been included in area exhibitions at The Crane Building, Abington Art Center; The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education and City Hall.

White’s work will be on view at The Print Center from February 26 – May 16, 2009. The opening reception is Thursday, February 26 from 5:30-7:30pm, with a gallery talk by the artist at 5:30pm.

Pulling from History: The Old Masters
A group exhibition bringing together the work of contemporary artists whose work has been influenced by Old Master prints

Exhibiting Artists: Jennifer Bornstein, Ernesto Caivano, David Fertig, Sarah McEneaney, Norm Paris, Andrew Raftery, Kiki Smith and Anton Würth

February 26 – May 16, 2009

Thursday, February 26
Gallery Talk by John Caperton, Curator: 5:30pm
Opening Reception: 5:30-7:30pm

PHILADELPHIA: The Print Center presents Pulling from History: The Old Masters, a group exhibition bringing together the work of eight contemporary artists whose work has been influenced by old master prints. When asked to describe her interest in printmaking, artist Jennifer Bornstein explained that intaglio “isn’t exactly a cutting-edge process of image-making. It’s a technology that’s in a time warp, practically unchanged over 500 years. It seemed to have been abandoned by contemporary art. Because of this, I had the impression that I could reinvent it. I could occupy myself less with traditional concerns, and more with hijacking this traditional medium to address my own concerns.” This is the first in a series of exhibitions exploring the ways that contemporary artists are “hijacking” the history of the printed image to create new work.

The works included in Pulling from History: The Old Masters show a variety of responses to the traditional printmaking processes of etching and engraving and also to the imagery of old master prints. In this exhibition we see carefully controlled engraved lines depicting the interior of a home staged for an open house (Andrew Raftery, Providence, RI) and intricate studies of stands used to display jewelry (Anton Würth, Offenbach, Germany). Other works include portraits of friends (Jennifer Bornstein, Los Angeles, CA), animals (Kiki Smith, New York, NY) and bathing nudes (Sarah McEneaney, Philadelphia, PA). Some artists have borrowed from historical sources for their imagery, including a suite of etchings of a dead knight (Ernesto Caivano, New York, NY), scenes from Goya’s Disasters of War (Norm Paris, Providence, RI) and battles scenes from the War of 1812 (David Fertig, Pemberton, NJ).

Pulling from History: The Old Masters will be on view at The Print Center from February 26 to May 16, 2009. On Thursday, February 26 there will be gallery talk by John Caperton, Curator of Prints and Photographs, The Print Center at 5:30pm and an opening reception from 5:30-7:30pm. Join us for a special discussion, Three Views of the Old Masters, on Wednesday, April 8, 6:00pm, with artists Jennifer Bornstein, Norm Paris and Andrew Raftery, who will be joined by Shelley Langdale, Associate Curator, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Nadine Orenstein, Curator, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Free and open to the public.