Matrix: Contemporary Printmaking - Museum of Fine Arts - Florida ...

Fall 2009
How Technology has changed Printmaking
When we consider the vastly
different uses of prints throughout history, it
is difficult to see where prints might fit into
our modern society. In the years before
computers and the internet, prints were
made as a way of advertising an artist’s
skills, or a way to send back images from a
new land. During the time of newspapers,
the printing press led the mass production
of images and text allowing more of the
public to gain access to the news and
current events in their societies.
With the internet today, there is
literally almost no need for any printed
newspapers. Many companies are
switching to online publications in order to
be more eco-friendly. With laser printers
and Xerox machines, the idea of
painstakingly creating a lithograph or
etching seems humorous. Today
printmaking is used solely as an art form.
This has allowed modern printmakers to
create exceptionally beautiful and creative
prints, which push the boundaries of
traditional printmaking.
Many modern printmakers create
their prints by incorporating the new tools
and technologies available, even those
used in everyday household chores. The
artist Willie Cole is a prime example of this.
He makes lithographs that are based on the
patterns left by an iron when it is face down
for too long.
Willie Cole
Pressed
Iron
Blossom
2005
By incorporating the iron into his
prints Cole merges a modern technology
with the antique technique of printmaking.
Modern printmakers also incorporate
unique subject matter reflecting the new
freedom they feel with prints viewed purely
as art. The artist Mark Hosford (biography
on page 27) composes wildly imaginative
and colorful images. In his prints Hosford
draws fictional creatures with multiple arms
and distorted bodies. His figures seem to
float defying the laws of physics. Hosford
said these images came from his overactive
imagination as a child.
Mark Hosford
Weight of Worm
2005
With the rapid
advancement of the digital contribution to
the art world, many artists have begun to
play with the idea of the perfection achieved
by such media. Imi Hwangbo creates prints
by hand to mimic
digital precision. She
creates lithographs
that display an exact
repetition and
patterning. Hwangbo
painstakingly creates
prints in the tradition
of the old masters,
as if simply using a
computer is not an
option.
Imi Hwangbo
Echo Keeper 1
2001
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