Barbara Krakow’s Black-and-White Lithographs
With individual works by 12 different artists—including Kara Walker, Ellsworth Kelly, Richard Serra, and Ed Ruscha—Barbara Krakow Gallery is showing an eclectic mix of contemporary prints at IFPDA this year. While the booth represents a stylistic range, there is a particular emphasis on black-and-white prints and lithographs (learn more about the process and other printmaking techniques here).
Untitled by Kara Walker
A rather tame and mysterious work by Kara Walker, Untitled consists primarily of clouds, done in her signature silhouette style but substituting lithography for cut paper. Best known for her wall-sized narratives that satirize African-American history, in this case Walker presents a bent-over woman pointing at an unidentifiable mass on the ground—it’s up to the viewer to interpret the scene. This work was part of Tamarind Institute’s project “Collective Impressions,” which commemorated the 200th anniversary of the invention of lithography.
T.E. Rotate by Richard Serra
Richard Serra’s T.E. Rotate is typical of a body of two-dimensional work that the artist has exhibited, featuring inky, splattered loops and curves. Serra is best-known for his monumental sculptures, particularly his Torqued Ellipses; this two-dimensional composition relates to his sculptural work in its emphasis on the ellipse, circular movement, and rough textural effects.
Untitled (Gray) by Ellsworth Kelly
Known for his pure, minimalist, monochromatic forms, Ellsworth Kelly employed the wedge shape found in Untitled (Gray) in many of his works in the late ’80s.Experimenting with color and patterning, he produced many different iterations of the shape. The cross-hatching treatment found in this work is atypical among the artist’s countless solid, opaque forms. The wedge is also featured in his Purple/Red/Gray/Orange, an 18-foot, 500-pound lithograph from the same year that is possibly the largest single-sheet lithograph ever made.
Cameo Cuts by Ed Ruscha
Cameo Cuts is representative of the Ruscha’s photographic works that reflect life in Los Angeles, in this case commenting on film. The six-lithograph set narrates the stages of an old-time movie, from the numbered countdown to “The End.” The works emulate the splices and grainy images encountered while viewing antiquated film.
On view at Barbara Krakow Gallery, IFPDA Print Fair 2013, Booth 401, Nov. 7th–10th.
