Target Prints
Imprint: A Contemporary Printmaking Exhibition, at the Target Gallery in the Torpedo Factory Art
Center (105 N. Union St., Alexandria). The event runs through Feb. 21. The gallery is open 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., with extended evening hours till 9 p.m. Thursday. For more details, call 703-838-4565 ext. 4, or visit www.torpedofactory.org/galleries/target.htm.
The reception for Imprint is Feb. 11, from 6 – 8 p.m., with a juror’s talk at 7 p.m. It’s followed by a printmaking demonstration from 7:30 – 8 p.m. in Printmaker’s Inc. Studio 325.
Jane Haslem served as juror for this show. Her gallery, Jane Haslem Gallery, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Not too surprising, though: she’s been a key member of the D.C. art scene over the years. She also founded the art dealer Web site, www.artline.com.
While the 41 prints selected by Hassle are almost all well done, the 37 artists responsible for them are, generally speaking, more focused on technique and visual presence than cutting-edge, pithy insight and content. A few go for the grand observation, but most don’t, or don’t seem to, anyway.
The 41 works provide us with a nice overview of the art printing processes. Ten of the artists presented here are from Virginia and Maryland, with the remainder from across the country.
With show selections almost universally done electronically these days, there almost always are a few surprises, and it looks like a couple got past Hassle as well. Overall, she did an excellent job of picking interesting prints.
A pair of Indiana artists, Kristen Martinic and Dora Lisa Rosenbaum, work with prints that imitate
clothing. Martinic’s shaped print “Peach Striped U-Back Suit” has a somewhat diaphanous quality that recalls dress patterns.
While Dora Lisa Rosenbaum’s “Prospect (Fuchsia)” made a series of 15 separate prints of red panties, and then cut them out to shape. The final resulting 15 paper garments are hung on a rack as if they were for sale in a store.
Crystal Wagner of Alabama has two large prints here. One, an active and energetic abstract image, and the other, a large image with a cut-out frosted mylar covering.
One of the most striking images here is a tryptic print hung free in the middle of the room. Seth Roby of New Mexico has crafted this image by printing fairly large scale Cyanotype photographs of a man’s X-rays. The man depicted was busted up pretty bad at one point, and has been put back together with a collection of screws, plates and rods. He seems up and mobile now, having been given another chance for a normal life, despite the hidden reminders he carries with him.
Of additional interest to women artists, Target Gallery has issued their open call for the May show called “WomanMade.” The deadline for receiving entries to this all-media show is March 1.
On the other end of the atrium hallway, the Art League space is holding its annual Patron’s Show Fundraiser on Feb. 14. And then immediately following that show, they will install the Student/Faculty show for 2010, open to anyone who’s completed an Art League class in the past year. Art drop off date is Feb. 15. For complete details, call 703-683-2323.
The Northern Virginia Art Beat is compiled by Kevin Mellema. To e-mail submissions, e-mail them to kevinmellema@gmail.com
