Organized by Maddy Rosenberg, Independent Curator, New York City, and Devorah Boxer, Vice President, Le Trait, Paris
New York/Paris DIALOGUE Paris/New York features the work of 18 US and 18 French contemporary printmakers and book artists in three venues in New York City and three in Paris, for a total of six simultaneous venues. This exhibition serves to highlight the role of the artist printmaker and the contrasts between the American and the French approach to the medium. The artwork included will span printmaking from the traditional to the more unconventional, with techniques ranging from intaglio, lithography, and silkscreen to photo and digital processes. American artists include Desiree Alvarez, Kumi Korf, Hillary Lorenz, Florence Neal, Miriam Schaer, among others. French artists include Louis-Rene Berge, Yves Jobert, Helene Laffly, Jean Lodge, Marie-Antoinette Rouilly Le Chavallier, among others.
While in Paris in 2001, Devorah Boxer, who belongs to the printmaking organization, Le Trait, and I met by happenstance. At the time, Le Trait was involved with three collaborative exhibitions with Irish printmakers. Before long, discussions began on doing a similar event in New York City. This exhibition, in six venues, is the final result of that serendipitous encounter. Upon returning to New York, Agnes Murray of the Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC), herself a noted printmaker, recommended other artists whom I should contact, since I wished to widen my circle of artists. From there, BAC became my fiscal sponsor and an invaluable asset.
As I began selecting the artists who would represent printmaking in the United States, I considered the need to showcase a variety of techniques. To me, it was essential to present as broad a range of possibilities in printmaking, new and old and in combination, and on a variety of surfaces, while also making certain to be inclusive of the unique two and three dimensional approaches available to artists today. To achieve this, the artwork chosen spans printmaking from the traditional to the more unconventional, with techniques ranging from intaglio, lithography, and silkscreen to photo and digital processes, used individually and in combination, as paper prints as well as on unusual surfaces and site specific installations.
The US printmakers tend to utilize a broad range of techniques, from the traditional ones such as intaglio, lithography, and silkscreen to photo and digital processes involving the latest technologies, used individually and in combination, as paper prints as well as on unusual surfaces, including site specific installations. The French tend to be more traditional with a true love of the printmaking processes imbedded in their heritage and a deft handling of the craft of specific techniques of the book arts. Though a few of the US artists limit their palettes, the black and white print remains strong among the French. The diversity of subject matter and content remains consistent on both sides of the Atlantic.
Maddy Rosenberg
New York City, 2005
