The third annual collaboration between Rochester Contemporary
Art Center and the Print Club of Rochester, “Under Pressure: Redefining the
Multiple,” is a showcase of the diverse methods of contemporary printmaking.
This year’s iteration has a particular focus on the artists’ attention to the
substrates, or material the work is printed on, says RoCo Executive Director
Bleu Cease.
Adirondacks-based
artist Bob Erickson’s images of stark, natural forms are what Cease calls “an
idiosyncratic melding of different print techniques” that blends inkjet
printing, digital photography, and dye transfers. Kathryn Polk, who is based in
Arizona, creates stunning lithographs that weave bits of family history into
mythic icons loaded with symbolism.
Ithaca, New
York-based artist Pamela Drix’s work is displayed both on the walls and as two towering
sculptural installations toward the rear of the space. Each work is a collage that
blends woodcut prints and encaustic on a range of materials including rice
paper, vellum envelopes, and drywall tape. Through hints of narrative imagery
and her complex clash of materials, Drix aims to explore the varied ways we
experience place.
There’s an
incredible amount of detail in the work of Alfred, New York-based artist Joseph
Scheer, whose series of black and white photographs forms a portrait of the
resourcefulness in China’s motorized tricycle culture.
In the LAB
Space is “Landscape Lottery,” a show of Jim Mott’s small, sketch-like but
intricately detailed oil paintings of the city and region. His process involves
chance — he’s devised a participatory game where he asks someone to roll some
dice to get ever more refined coordinates, then he shows up, looks around, and
records what he sees. Mott repeats the game with someone he finds at that site,
and he’s on to the next spot.
There’s
clear and deliberate potential here for connecting with a wide range of
strangers from all walks. In the past Mott has similarly engaged with people as
an “Itinerant Artist,” traveling across the states and staying with strangers
in exchange for paintings done in the vicinity of their homes.
RoCo
recently did away with the circular chamber that was located in the far back
corner of the gallery and replaced it with a narrow, rectangular room that’s
fashioned into a comfortable space for viewing media art. Currently on view in
the space is “Scenes of Place: Milwaukee,” three short films curated by
Milwaukee-based artist Ben Balcom.
This article appears in Oct 24-30, 2018.
