Page 51 - Studio International - December 1971

Supplement December 1971

Lithographs and other original prints

Print-making at Of all the ways to make prints, and motives to (as in Kenneth Lochhead's work), or large
account for them, many, if not all, have been colour flats (Guido Molinari) or to photo
Halifax, Nova taken over by the Fine Art Print to the point interests (Jan Dibbets, Dan Graham, Michael
Scotia where the term doesn't need to mean much any Snow). Take the case of the twenty-two-colour
more. But the continuation of the limited lithograph by Gene Davis. Where tight
edition and a high sense of professionalism are registration is involved usually more than five
responsible, in part, for the contradictions colours are impractical because of paper
inherent in the current print situation : the stretch. This has developed into a tradition and
precious democratic object, the 'art' posture, come to be regarded as fact. However, with the
the strait-jacket of the image, all often high skills of Robert Rogers, our Master
unfavourably construed. Confronted with the Printer, we were able to demonstrate that, if
operating attitudes of the Lithography one so chose, it was possible to expand upon
Workshop at the Nova Scotia College of Art and that notion.
Design in Halifax (rare in that it operates on a A particularly interesting print is John
self-recovery basis within a college), and its Baldessari's I Will Not Make Any More Boring
output over the last two years (sixty-four Art. Taken as literal fact, a lithograph is a
editions by twenty-nine artists), one might contradiction of that position, or the image is
concede that, in an ideal sense at least, some of paradoxical. As a punishment for making past
the contradictions approach resolution. bad art, having to atone for those sins by writing
These attitudes are best described by its the statement over and over, the edition of
Director, Gerald Ferguson. What follows was lithographs as a whole fulfills that intention.
taken from discussions with him on the point The seventeen sentences in each print, times
of lithography, the raison d'être of the the total edition of fifty, plus proofs, make for
Workshop, its relationship with artists and some some thousand times that the sentence was
of the achievements that they share. `written'. A fair sentence to pay. A further
Lithography is a print-making medium that contradiction, and the testament to the power of
offers a great deal of flexibility to the artist in Art that was discovered by the Dadaists, is that,
realizing his ideas. It is no more and no less no matter how hard you try, you can't make a
valuable than any other circumstance under fool out of art. Baldessari's print, partly
which an artist operates. If he chooses to deal because of the circumstances of lithography, is a
with a situation which provides technical fine thing to look at/respond to.
information that he may utilize, knowing full Bob MacLean is a tattoo artist working in
well that his ideas will be modified to Halifax. It seemed appropriate to select a
accommodate its special qualities, and if the practicing 'print-maker' in an entirely different
artist chooses to have his work associated with printing medium, culturally and technically,
the historical tradition of print-making and have him share his perspective with
(lithography in particular) and the lithographers. In this case we saw how
corresponding notion of the limited repeated differences in media contributed to an
image, then virtually any artist can deal with understanding of the information.
the medium. If, in this process, the artist can Pat Kelly's Shot in the Dark is a print that
expand the possibilities of his art thinking/ exploits the process; i.e. with one colour per run,
making, rather than viewing it as a restriction, the registration is traditionally co-ordinated
then the medium has served the purpose for with the previous runs to finally make all the
which I feel it is intended. colours work together. In Kelly's print the first
Part of the operation of the NSCAD cross hair was printed in black and the second,
Lithography Workshop has been to examine using the same image, in blue. The paper was
the viability of this proposition, and to further laid, in the second run, without reference to
communicate that awareness to the student. guides marked on the back of the paper, calling
You could describe this activity as the goal of upon the artist to exercise (invent) other means
any media studies programme/activity, for image coincidence. As the edition progresses
knowing that, in any art-making process that the images come closer together. The artist's
eventually intends to communicate something, learning is therefore the subject of the
the medium is always present and plays a lithograph and each print (recognized by its
critical role in structuring the information, and, number in the edition) is a stage in the learning
in fact, is part of the information. process.
The work of several artists particularly The lithographs by Sol LeWitt, consistent
illustrates the enormous range of possibilities with his recent work, were done by mailed
available to one through the medium. instruction, leaving certain decisions to `art
Lithography accommodates itself to such workers' hired by the Workshop. (Being
diverse imagery concerns as spray techniques surrounded by students gave us, in this and
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