New Work: Build Up, Tear Down

I just finished my newest project, a two-color silkscreen repeat pattern, titled Build Up, Tear Down.  Measuring 20 x 27", the print can exist solely as a single image or be tiled together in groupings of four or more to create an on-going repeat wallpaper pattern. Shout out to Ryan Parker for his invaluable assistance! This print will become part of a group portfolio called In the Background that will be part of the Southern Graphics Council's 2012 conference, Navigating Currents, in New Orleans this March.  More details to follow on that event.  Meanwhile, it will also be included in the upcoming show Volcano/Kaboom at Rosemont College in February.

original print, 20x27"

the interior scene created by the four corners of the original print

here's how it looks with four prints tiled together to create the repeat

Coming Up in the New Year

We're already coming up on the new year and I'd like to let you know what is in store for the first few months of 2012!

Sake barrels, Heian Shrine, Kyoto

In January I will be making my first trip to Japan where I'll be staying in Kyoto for a couple of weeks.  I'm really looking forward to it and am excited to take in the sights and the food, and I know I will find a lot of inspiration in the landscape, the rich printmaking history, and the textiles.

As soon as I get back I'll be jumping right into a busy period of shows, and will be starting a part-time apprenticeship at the Fabric Workshop and Museum where I'll be learning about large-scale silkscreen printing on textiles and techniques in color mixing, repeat patterns, and many other things I never learned in school.  I can't wait for the challenge!

Also in January, IPCNY's exhibition New Prints 2011 will be traveling to Austin, Texas where it will be on view at UT Austin's Visual Arts Center (VAC) from January 27th - March 10.  Presented in collaboration with the Department of Art and Art History’s Printmaking Convergence Program, New Prints 2011 features sixty-seven prints by fifty-one emerging to established artists and printers. Selected from a pool of over 2,500 submissions, New Prints 2011 is the fortieth presentation of the International Print Center New York’s (IPCNY) New Prints Program. This series of juried exhibitions organized by IPCNY several times each year features outstanding prints made within the past twelve months by artists at all stages of their careers. This year’s selection committee included Anders Bergstrom, artist; Beth Finch, Lunder Curator of American Art, Colby College Museum of Art; Christopher Gaillard, president, Gurr Johns, Inc.; Sarah Kirk Hanley, independent print curator and specialist appraiser; Diana Wege Sherogan, artist and collector; and Bruce Wankel, master printer, ULAE.

The End of Escapism, part of the New Prints 2011 Exhibition

Artists featured in the exhibition include: Norman Ackroyd, Erika Adams, Golnar Adili, Polly Apfelbaum, Rosaire Appel, Miguel A. Aragon, Isabelle Ayotte, Trevor Banthorpe, Curtis Bartone, Jarrod Beck, Grace Bentley-Scheck, Marcin Bialas, Shawn Bitters, Nicholas Brown, Rachael Browning, Susan Goethel Campbell, Alejandro Chen Li, Elaine Chow, Matthew Colaizzo, Terry Conrad, Erin Diebboll, Marie Yoho Dorsey, Odette England, Rick Finn, Yuko Fukuzumi, Isabel Gouveia, Libby Hague, Takuji Hamanaka, John Himmelfarb, Charles Hinman, Gary Justis, Alex Katz, Jane Kent, William Kentridge, Anne LaFond, Sharon Levy, Michael Loderstedt, Whitfield Lovell, So Yoon Lym, S.V. Medaris, Michael Neff, Serena Perrone, Ian Ruffino, Ed Ruscha, Soledad Salamé, Bob Shore, Joan Snyder, Preeti Sood, Jessica Stockholder, Tomi Um, and Pete Williams.

In February, I am excited to be part of a three-person show, Volcano/Kaboom, featuring the work of myself, Hiro Sakaguchi, and Alina Josan.  Volcano/Kaboom will be on view from February 9 - March 9 at Rosemont College's Lawrence Gallery, with a reception on February 9.

collaborative drawing, Hiro Sakaguchi, Alina Josan, Serena Perrone

As February is the month of love, I've been invited by Detroit-based artist Chido Johnson to participate in his on-going project Let's Talk About Love:

Love Library Schematic

In this exhibition the object of affection takes the form of a book -- individual artist’s interpretation of “love” concealed and superficially homogenized as romance novels. The installation can employ the basic structure of a bookstore or library. The space has shelves containing the fabricated romance novels with each visually uniform title presented on the shelves and accessible to the viewer. Lounging chairs or sofas are available to encourage individuals to comfortably sit, read and become more active participants. Unable to judge the books by their covers, the viewer has have the opportunity to scroll through titles and authors (artists) choose a book and engage with the actual content.

This installation could be read in various ways – the entire collection a simulation of a global context – masses of people, organized and shelved. Yet, at the point of engagement, as one picks up a book and opens it, apparent is a person’s individual desires and insight. Even as we are divided ideologically, economically and culturally, we are united with the most beautiful, yet confusingly complex and so easily misunderstood thing called love. This year's incarnation of Let's Talk About Love will open at MOCAD on February 10.  Details to follow!

Also in February, I will be teaching Seriality and Narrative in Intaglio at Second State Press!  The class will meet four Saturdays in February from noon - 2:30 pm. If you are interested in participating, you can contact me or Second State Press anytime before February 1 to sign up. 

image courtesy Second State Press

Seriality and Narrative in Intaglio: In this class students will employ intrinsic techniques of the intaglio printmaking process to create a series of prints that result from an original plate that evolves and is altered over the course of three weeks.  Beginning intaglio techniques will be taught incrementally and the copper plate will be reworked and printed multiple times allowing for imbued narratives to arise and evolve through each successive state.  Students will learn how to prepare a plate, transfer imagery, and use a range of techniques including drypoint, line etch, aquatint, spit bite, and sugar lift to create their imagery.  Students will also learn how to handle paper and edition their prints, as a small edition will be pulled from each state, resulting in an editioned series of prints.

More details on all this and more will follow soon.  Happy New Year everyone!

More New Work in Progress: Repeat Patterns

Along with the drawings for an on-going photo-litho project that I posted recently, I'm also in the midst of doing my first repeat-pattern based work.  These preliminary drawings will become silkscreen bleed prints that, when aligned together, will form a repeat-pattern wallpaper.

 

the first layer printed in dark yellow.  

Second State Press, Space 1026, and Cade Tompkins Projects: Upcoming Events

Hello Everyone! I wanted to share with you a few upcoming events.  First up is:
 
First Proof, Second State: Silent Auction and Portfolio Release Party!  Thursday, December 8, 6-9 pm, Second State Press, in the Crane Arts Building, 1400 N. American Street, Philadelphia.

A member's exchange portfolio will be on display and one of each print in the portfolio will be up for silent auction to commemorate Second State Press' one year anniversary and help kick off another great year.  It will be a fun and festive evening with light fare and libations, the silent auction, special membership rates, and the debut of a new limited edition tote bag.  This event is free and open to the public!  My new print, Borderline, will be one of the prints available during the silent auction.

Serena Perrone, "Borderline", photolithography with etching, 2011

The prints were created and donated by Second State Press members through our First Member Print Exchange.  Participating artists include: Darly Bergman, Emilia Brintnall, Josh Carlevato, John Darling-Wolf, Lindsay Deifik, Shelby Donnely, Nicole Patrice Dul, Amze Emmons, Elaine Erne, Avrom Ari Friedman, Eileen Heasley, Eric Hinkley, Zach Kolodziejski, Ahni Kruger, Chris Landau, Ashley Limes & Sarah Kodish-Eskind, Zach Lindenberger, Caroline McPhillips, Catherine Nelson, Brian Palmieri, Ryan Parker, Jennifer Pascoe, Serena Perrone, Hannah Riotto, Max Seckel, Crystal Shephard, Christina Taylor, Chinn Wang, Jake Yeager.



The following evening, Friday, December 9th, will be the Space 1026 Annual Art Auction. Space 1026 (1026 Arch Street, Philadelphia), doors open at 6 pm, auction begins at 7 pm.  Two little prints of mine will be up for auction that night (the one below, plus a little bonus!).

Serena Perrone, Untitled, etching, 2011

Next there will be the Holiday Sale at Cade Tompkins Projects in Providence. 

You can take advantage of two Saturdays of affordable drawings and prints by: Allison Eleanor Bianco, Ian Cozzens, Lynne Harlow, Kirsten Hassenfeld, Tayo Heuser, Daniel Heyman, Patrick Malin, Anne Patterson, Serena Perrone, Jessica Rosner, Alec Thibodeau, Karen Tompkins, Susan Hardy Twaddell, Brian Whitney, and Jay Zehngebot.

The Holiday Sale will be open to the public on Saturday, December 10th and Saturday, December 17 from noon to 6 pm at Cade Tompkins Projects, 198 Hope Street, Providence, RI (entrance on Fones Alley between Angell and Waterman).  A second state of "Adventures in Echolocation: Somnambulist", and "Borderline" will be some of the new work available during the sale.

Serena Perrone, Adventures in Echolocation: Somnambulist, second state, 2011

Serena Perrone, Borderline, photolithography with etching, 2011

There you have it - four opportunities to see and collect some great art by local artists and support some great galleries, co-ops and printshops.  More news about things coming up in early 2012 to follow soon!

Here and Now and E/AB Installation Views

Greetings all!  There are only a few days left to see "Here and Now: Prints, Drawings and Photographs by Ten Philadelphia Artists" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  The show runs through Sunday, December 4 (FREE Admission for its final day!) The ten artists on view are Astrid Bowlby, Steven and Billy Blaise Dufala (who operate in collaboration), Vincent Feldman, Daniel Heyman, Isaac Tin Wei Lin, Virgil Marti, Joshua Mosley, Serena Perrone, Hannah Price, and Mia Rosenthal. Here are a couple press photos from the opening, courtesy Around-Philly.

PMA Opening, photo: Around-Philly

PMA Opening, photo: Around-Philly

Here are more installation shots from the show, all courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Department of Communications. (Thank you!)

November has flown by, but it was a great whirlwind of printmaking.  See my previous post for images of the IPCNY show that opened and is ongoing through January, before it travels to Austin, Texas.

The Editions/Artists' Book Fair also took place in Chelsea the first weekend of November, and I exhibited with Cade Tompkins Editions/Projects.  We had a great turnout, and Cade's booth looked fantastic.  We saw a ton of great new work from all the exhibitors, and many friends and colleagues as well.  Printeresting did some great coverage of the Print Week events.  If you haven't already, please check out their posts here: E/AB Fair, Prints Gone Wild, and IFPDA Fair to see some great images and a nice shout-out.  

That's all for now. I hope you all enjoyed Thanksgiving!  More updates to follow soon!