This exhibition began as a question about the voice of contemporary letterpress printing in the
context of contemporary art. Not surprisingly, we found the voice is multiple. The works collected
in this exhibitionreveal that letterpress printing ‘speaks’ both intimately and publicly. It can suggest
gentle, private thoughts in tones that are subtle and hushed just as well as it commands attention
and action—when needed—shouting boldly in color and form.
The works in this exhibition were selected for what they say and do individually as well as to expose
the range that is possible within the medium of letterpress printing. From works that emphasize the
coefficient relationship between letterpress printing and written language [language as code: Fernstrum, Borezo; literature/narrative/story: Russelle + Sherlock, Green; language as power: Schilling, Risseeuw]
to works that play with the formal and conceptual relationship between two and three dimensions Sterly, Neilson, Jacobs, Green, Haase, Chen. Some works forge a connection between old and new media, using
letterpress printing to comment on popular culture, contemporary life or modern technologies Ancliffe, Newell, Bryant, Reese + Cain + Cecil. Others tap the tactile qualities of the medium to address more
personal content Baker or to suggest how memories are impressed in our minds Pirkle.
For all the heft associated with the physical facts of its craft—heavy steel rollers and platens, clunking
mechanisms, often a cast iron base—letterpress printing is also capable of extremely delicate, serene
and fragile expression Neilson, Borezo, Chadwick, Pirkle. In contrast, other artists in this exhibition are
attracted to the indelible permanence that letterpress printing suggests, as if to impress text and image
into the paper is to forever burn the image into our minds Risseeuw, Haase, Sterly. Still, others create
a dichotomy, linking an ethereal or evasive sensibility with an ingrained one at the same time Newell, Borezo, Ancliffe. And while many artists are drawn to the medium for its exacting precision Chen, Bryant, others find a fitting forum for the accidental, the imperfect or the deliberate visual disruption
of the printed surface Price + Larned, McKim. Letterpress printing also offers an immediacy that some
have captured byresponding to the proofing process itself, reacting to the printed mark instantaneously
both on the press and with tools borrowed from writing, drawing or painting Baker, Wiecking.
Even when it whispers, the language of letterpress printing speaks with an authority that is rooted in its
history Russelle + Sherlock. While some artists engage the gravitas conveyed by the history and tradition
of printing from moveable type Schilling, others acknowledge the weight this history represents to our
culture Green. In contrast, some play loosely with this consigned authority, undermining and utilizing it
simultaneously Price + Larned, Ancliffe, Haase.
Happily, the experience of convening these artists’ work has led us to an indefinite but expansive answer
to the question of voice. Letterpress printing is a lively medium which many artists choose for its ability
to speak with a voice that is grounded in a weighty history, but not bogged down by it. The medium is
indeed alive, and like many processes, it grows, changes and evolves by reflecting the culture around it.
These artists are continually re-tuning that voice, extending its range, finding new things to say in new
ways, each in turn shaping its voice anew. What is the voice of letterpress printing today? Pure, relevant,
indelible, evocative, tranquil, confrontational, alluring. And fresh.