ANCHOR
GRAPHICS
Summer
2012
Enrique
Chagoya
Enrique Chagoya
History of Surveillance
4 color lithographic print on hand made paper
25 1/2”” x 22 1/4”
2011
Even after having his fellatiated, big-breasted Jesus smashed with a crowbar, Enrique Chagoya
has not shied away from the messy side of religion,
politics or bodily excretions. In his latest lithograph, completed at Anchor Graphics, a skeleton
sits atop a toilet reading The History of Surveillance
while waiting for his nonexistent bowels to move.
This most intimate of moments is rudely intruded
upon by an invasive all-seeing eyeball.
The all-seeing Eye of God, typically depicted
surrounded by a triangle exuding beaming rays
of glory, is a representation of divine providence
watching over humankind. In Medieval and Renaissance European art, the Eye was an explicit image
of the Christian Trinity. In the modern era, it’s most
commonly seen on the reverse side of the US onedollar bill, where a reproduction of the back side of
the Great Seal of the United States can be found.
On the Great Seal the Eye is surrounded by the
words Annuit Cœptis, which translates to “He ap-
proves our undertakings.” The implication is that
God favors the prosperity of the United States.
In Chagoya’s print the need to protect freedom and ensure safety has crossed even the most
private of boundaries by invading the privy and examining its occupier down to the literal core of his
being, to his very bones. Instead of rays of light,
Chagoya’s eye is leaking drops of liquid. It lets forth
tears of sorrow, weeping for its abuses of power. Or
is it sweating in a cartoon panic from the growing
realization that through the pursuit of others’ secrets, its own might come to light? It is simultaneously mournful and fretful for what it has become
and the possibility that those it persecutes will rise
in resistance.
The confluence of power, vulnerability, the
secular, and the profane is not new for Chagoya,
as demonstrated by the controversy surrounding
the previously mentioned The Misadventures of the
Romantic Cannibals. The piece, portraying Jesus’
head atop a busty body being orally gratified, was
intended as a commentary on Catholic sex abuse
cases and was vandalized while on display in Loveland, Colorado.
The post 9/11 world, surveillance, drones,
xenophobia and 1984 scenarios, along with immigration and cultural conflict, are some of Chagoya’s favorite subjects. The truism that history is
told by the winners often plays out in his work as
previous historical accounts are erased, destroyed
or buried and new official stories are invented.
History is an ideological construction as cultures
are transformed or completely destroyed and the
world is endlessly re-mapped and re-named. New
world orders come and go. Though Chagoya’s art is
not one of pessimism. As the worrying eye attests,
the current world order is not permanent and it is
always possible that the next will get it right.
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Rachel
Niffe egge
Rachel Niffenegger
Death Mask Pentimento
lithograph
paper size: 15” x 21”
image size: 9 1/4” x 15 ¾
2011
Rachel Niffenegger
Teeth Toucher in Spiraling Aura
lithograph
paper size: 15” x 19”
image size: 8 1/2” x 11 1/2”
2011
Pentimento is used by art historians to refer to
evidence of an alteration in the composition of
a painting. Pentimenti (the plural form) show elements of pictures to have been shifted to slightly
different positions or to have been removed all
together. Such changes are made in the under
drawing, or by covering up initial attempts with
additional layers of paint. Some pentimenti are
visible to the naked eye, revealed through the
passage of time as the top layers of paint become more and more transparent. Others can
only be seen with modern x-ray and infrared technologies, which allow one to literally look below a
painting’s surface. Pentimento has its origins in
the Italian word pentirsi meaning to repent, but
more recently the term has also come to be used
to describe the appearance of painted buildings
as new coats flake off to reveal older ones.
In all cases, the term is perfectly applicable
to the work of Rachel Niffenegger. A constant
process of reworking is typical for her, as is the
wearing away and peeling back of layers. The resulting haunted apparitions often feel as if they
are requesting some form of redemption or forgiveness in a personal plea to the viewer. Their
ghost-like translucent faces are made of fluid layers that depict rotting flesh and decay through
subtle tones and a delicate use of staining. Her
ghouls are veiled in whisper thin shrouds and
mist-like auras. In spite of their appearance,
Niffenegger does not aim to make finely polished objects. Instead she allows the process
of creation to show through. Each effigy is manipulated, destroyed, and transformed through a
ritualized artistic ferment, the remains of which
become an integral part of the final image. Faces
are absorbed and imbedded, each leaving marks
that are equally reviling and seductive.
Death Mask Pentimento is curious in its titling, as lithography is not as hospitable to making changes or deletions as this would imply.
This lithograph, along with Teeth Toucher in Spiraling Aura, was created by Niffenegger at Anchor
Graphics in 2011. In both, she uses drawing
techniques commonly found in lithography including washes, splattering, and stop-out masks
to translate her pictorial language onto the
stone. The results are two beautiful prints that
delve into mysterious realms. They are images of
the departed, like those conjured up by a clairvoyant at a séance or the pentimento of an old
master painting revealed through x-ray analysis.
Karl
Wirsum
Karl Wirsum
Gab Grab
lithograph
paper size: 19 1/4” x 22”
image size: 14 1/4” x 16 1/2”
2011
Nearly 50 years after exploding on to the art
scene, the Hairy Who continues to be a vibrant
part of Chicago’s cultural landscape, and none
more so than Karl Wirsum. His distinctive blend
of cartoon bravado mixes with a true draftsman’s elegance and grace. The characters found
in his work combine a graphic linear strength
with a sense of humor clearly evident in punning titles. Wirsum’s art comes out of a fusion of
design concepts culled from sources as diverse
as Mezzo-American art and Dick Tracy comics,
glued together with the frenetic energy of Chicago itself. His images are endemic of an urban
environment bubbling with eccentricity.
The group of artists that became known as
the Hairy Who gained prominence through an exhibition of the same name at the Hyde Park Art
Center in 1966. Theirs was a post war fantasy art
of grotesquerie and brilliant color, with a touch
of Dada irreverence. They created satires that
spoke of the political and social foibles of contemporary life. Their art was brash, irreverent,
offbeat, whimsical, and at times violent. It was
also emblematic of a youth driven counter culture that championed psychedelic flower power
and a deep questioning of authority. It is not
surprising that the Hairy Who garnered national
attention during the same decade as the underground comics movement and shared a similar
subversive view of America.
The Hairy Who bucked art world trends.
They had no desire to imitate the deadpan irony
of artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. While Pop looked to the impersonal world
of mass-produced commercialism and advertising, The Hairy Who sought out the intimately personal and idiosyncratic work of surrealism and
Art Brut. In fact the name of the exhibition, which
led to the name of the group, was as anti New
York as the art works it included. At the time,
titles of art exhibitions attempted to convey a
sense of cool detachment by being as far removed from the content of the show as possible.
Determined not to emulate such pomposity, the
group gathered to discuss aspects of the show.
At the meeting Karl Wirsum was heard inquiring
about Harry Bouras, an art critic who broadcast
on local radio, saying, “Harry who? Who is this
guy?” Bouras was not held in the highest esteem
and when Harry was changed to Hairy it made
for a humorous and appropriate show title.
It is several decades later and Wirsum
is still at it. His latest lithograph with Anchor
Graphics shows his typical use of strong lines
and schematic composition. But instead of the
vibrant color there is a refrained use of shading
and muted tone. The imagery does not show
the same restraint. A female head and torso
with arms folded stands dignified and powerful.
Like the statuesque bust of a Roman Cesar, she
is beautiful and serene while bearing vampire
fangs that clearly display the violence she could
inflict on those who challenge her. Above her
head float alien hands attempting to communicate through sign language, though the fingers
are abstracted just enough to hide them from
being clearly legible. The print’s title, Gab Grab,
offers no assistance. It remains unclear if this
fearsome lady wants to chat or to attack.
The Anchor Graphics Artist-in-Residency program
soldiers on with these fantastic upcoming artists:
Natasha
Pestich
Interested in how individuals personally occupy and
negotiate publicly held ideals, Pestich focuses on
moments when a particular set of beliefs fails to make
sense. She stages clashes between the rules and
conventions we live by and our own logic, dramatizing the
way we experience, process and respond to ideological
structures in daily life.
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Look for new mixed media prints from this duo, trying
in earnest to marry trash-based “low-brow” cartooning
with contemporary drawing as a conceptual gesture,
using one as a possible ironic stand-in for the other. Ice
cream, buzzing flies, cow udders, jarred brains, twisted
limbs, floating heads, and other images from the
graphic underbelly are sure to follow.
New surreal, nightmare worlds of conflict seen through
a child’s mind trying to decipher horrible atrocities that
are on the horizon.
Cannonball
Press
While in town for the opening of their recent exhibition
curated by Anchor Graphics at the Averill and Bernard
Leviton A + D Gallery, Martin Mazorra and Mike Houston
of Cannonball Press visited the shop to make a new
lithograph featuring their signature style of dense, coverall-areas-of-the-page, black and white imagery. While
their exhibition took visitors on a tour of a mythic carnival
sideshow, their new lithograph goes on a different kind
of adventure. Two intrepid explorers fan boat their way
through the swamps, wrecking foliage and wreaking havoc
on the once peaceable kingdom. Look for this latest gem
from Cannonball Press to be available soon!
Text by James Iannaccone.
Mission:
Anchor Graphics is a not-for-profit fine art
printshop that brings together, under professional
guidance, a diverse community of youth, emerging
and established artists, and the public to advance
the fine art of printmaking by integrating education
with the creation of prints.
Support:
Anchor Graphics has been generously funded
through the years by contributions from
individuals, organizations and foundations, the
most recent being; The Illinois Arts Council, a state
agency, The Packaging Corporation of America and
the Art + Design Department. If you would like to
find out more about Anchor Graphics please email
us anchorgraphics@colum.edu.
Anchor
Graphics
colum.edu/anchorgraphics