Edge of Visibility

International Print Center New York (IPCNY) presents Edge of Visibility, curated in conjunction with the September–October issue of the journal Art in Print by its editor-in-chief, Susan Tallman. The issue focuses on artworks that are purposely and strategically hard to see, and the accompanying exhibition provides the opportunity to experience them in all their elusive and evasive presence. Among the more than 50 works on view are prints from the 17th century to the present—laborious micro-engravings, subtle watermarks, and evanescent images printed with UV-reactive inks.

Such visual hurdles work to make viewers conscious of the act of looking. Chris Ofili’s multi-layered, opalescent portfolio Black Shunga 8 (2008–15) relies on threadlike, nearly imperceptible lines, as do Walid Raad’s white-on-white line etchings for Views from Inner to Outer Compartments (2013). Samuel Levi Jones’ 48 Portraits (Underexposed) (2012) and Kerry James Marshall’s Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein (2001) depict black figures against black backgrounds, recasting a societal refusal to see as an optical challenge to seeing. In Philippe Parreno’s Fade to Black (2005), visibility and its opposite take on intimations of mortality, with phosphorescent images that die off until they are recharged by light.

Exhibiting artists:
Fiona Banner, Barbara Bloom, Jacques Callot, Megan Foster, Levi David van Gelder, Samuel Levi Jones, William Kentridge, Matthew Kenyon & Douglas Easterly, Glenn Ligon, Christian Marclay, Boris Margo, Kerry James Marshall, Chris Ofili, Philippe Parreno, William Pratt, Johann Michael Püchler, Walid Raad, Ad Reinhardt, Art Spiegelman & Françoise Mouly, Timorous Beasties (Alistair McAuley & Paul Simmons), and Susan York

Public programs:
Thursday, October 11, 6–8pm: Artist Samuel Levi Jones in conversation with Randy Cohen for Person Place Thing radio show, with musical guest Tomas Rodriguez.

Thursday, October 25, 5–6pm: Print Week exhibition tour for members and patrons with curator Susan Tallman.

Saturday, October 27, 1–4pm: acTEEvism: T-shirt screenprinting workshop with artists including Megan Foster at IPCNY’s PRINTFEST.

Thursday, November 1, 6–8pm: Publishing on the Edge: Making the Invisible Visible panel discussion with master printers Jacob Samuel (Edition Jacob Samuel, Santa Monica, CA) on Walid Raad, Greg Burnet (Burnet Editions, NY) on Glenn Ligon, and Craig Zammiello (Two Palms, NY) on Chris Ofili.

Tuesday, December 4, 6–8pm: Text + Image: Historical Micrography of Johann Michael Püchler and David Levi van Gelder in Context. Gallery talk by Freyda Spira, Associate Curator, Drawings and Prints, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and David Wachtel, independent scholar.

For more information and the full program, visit Edge of Visibility.
To take advantage of membership perks and participate in members’ events, learn more about our special IPCNY + Art in Print discounted membership/subscription offer.

Also upcoming:
PRINTFEST is a three-day fair hosted by IPCNY for MFA and senior BFA students to exhibit and sell their prints during New York’s annual Print Week. PRINTFEST provides these emerging artists with a professional setting in which to showcase their work to a broad audience of collectors, publishers, artists, and curators visiting Chelsea galleries and the nearby IFPDA and Editions/Artists’ Book fairs. Free and open to the public, Ocober 25–27.

*Image above: Left to right: Chris Ofili, Black Shunga 8, 2008–15 (detail). Portfolio of eleven etchings with gravure on pigmented paper, sheet: 26 3/8 x 17 1/2 inches each. Edition: 20. Printed and published by Two Palms, New York. Courtesy of the artist and Two Palms, NY. Philippe Parreno, A Wise Monk Shitting Light, lamp prototype for Alejandro Jodorowsky, 2006, 2013. Sheet: 39 1/2 x 55 1/2 inches. Screenprint in phosphorescent ink. Printed and published by the artist. Edition: 6. Courtesy of the artist and 1301PE, Los Angeles. Kerry James Marshall, Bride of Frankenstein, 2010. Hardground etching with aquatint, sheet: 24 1/2 x 19 inches each. Edition: 50. Printed and published by Paulson Bott Press, Berkeley, CA. Courtesy of the artist and Paulson Fontaine Press, Berkeley, CA.