Analia Saban is Broken

Gemini G.E.L. is pleased to present our first exhibition with Analia Saban. Analia Saban is Broken will be on view from October 22 through December 22, 2016, and will feature three different series—one in etching, in addition to two unique approaches to monotyping.

Saban’s dynamic and compelling investigation of materials tests the limits of painting, sculpture, and printmaking in new and enterprising ways. Since 2015, Saban has been collaborating with Gemini G.E.L. on several series of prints. One body of work takes domestic objects as its inspiration, deconstructing and examining the various internal parts. Another series digs into the process of printmaking by challenging the physical properties of ink on paper, exploring the line between the handmade and the machine-made. For her presentation at Gemini, the artist has curated the exhibition using multiple copies of the same print. Her selection not only calls into question the traditions of print display, but also emphasizes the inherent nature of repetition within the art of printmaking.

The Mechanical Drawings (One-Continuous Line) etchings investigate the various internal parts of domestic objects including a blender, electric toothbrush, pocket watch, combo television unit, and recliner chair. Each image was made by Saban using an industrial laser cutter that the artist manipulated to draw, rather than burn or cut. By taking advantage of the machine’s limitation of composing in an uninterrupted stroke, the fragments, although scattered throughout the page, are ultimately connected and formed by one continuous line. Working with Master Printer Case Hudson, the drawings were transferred to copper plates with a robust, deeply bitten aquatint that when printed produced a powerfully embossed line saturated in color.

The Broken Vase series was spurred both by Saban’s time as an Artist in Residence at the Getty Research Institute as well as her captivation with the machinery used to make prints at Gemini G.E.L. For this project, each impression is made by filling one of five different stencils, made in the shape of Greek urns, with a clear acrylic medium applied directly onto paper. The medium is allowed to partially dry, and the entire sheet is then inserted into a hydraulic press originally designed for blind embossing. Inside the press, under the vertical pressure, the paper is crushed against the thick outline of the vase, producing varying forms of cracks, bubbles, and buckling. The resulting sculptural effect is entirely unpredictable and therefore vastly different from impression to impression.

Additionally there is a small monotype titled Fingerprint, which is simple and humorous. For the conception of this piece, Saban disrupted the uniform surface of an inked copper plate with the touch of her fingertip before the plate was printed on a sheet of pristine white paper. Once pulled from the press, Saban made a corresponding mark in the margin of the print with the same inked finger. In true collaborative spirit, after Saban signed the RTP, printer Kenny Srivijittakar carried out the editioning, acting as a fingerprint proxy. The work is a play on the definition of a print, as well as the formalities of traditional printmaking and what constitutes the signature of the artist.

Analia Saban was born in Argentina and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. In addition to her first exhibition at Gemini G.E.L. this fall, Saban’s work will be the subject of a solo exhibition at the Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston, Texas. Other recent exhibitions include Prospect.3, New Orleans, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA, and An Appetite for Painting, National Museum of Norway, Oslo. Recipient of the Norton Museum’s 2012 "Rudin Prize For Emerging Photographers,” Saban also participated in the Hammer Museum’s, Made in LA group exhibition in 2012, and was a Getty Artist in Residence 2015/2016. Her work is in the collections of the Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College, the Hammer Museum at UCLA in Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, Norton Museum of Art in Florida, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. 

Analia Saban is Broken is on view through December 22 at Gemini G.E.L., 8365 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles 90069.