Driven to Create: Bojan Golija's Exhaustive and Varied Printmaking

By Breda Skrjanec | Recognized as a “father of Maribor printmaking,” Slovenian artist Bojan Golija diligently explored the expressive abilities of printmaking not only to convey his interest in nature and Slovenian folklore but also to educate younger generations. Golija’s frequent crossing of artistic approaches and particular attitude towards color led to imagery shaped by stimuli from nearby as well as Japanese woodcut tradition and unconventional procedures.

New Variants in the Continuum of Polish Poster Art

By Dorota Folga-Januszewska | The 20th century proved a liberating era for the poster to break from its burdening position as a message-driven print announcement into a tasteful art form. In Poland, the (r)evolution extended into the new millennium, with poster as a print that transcends overt meaning.

In Crossing the Dreams to Unnamed Reality

By Endi Poskovic | Two eloquently disquieting projects, Crossing and Dream, recent avatars of my ongoing traversal between the analog and digital realms, converge according to pillars of the printed image: multiplicity, seriality and translation. They reflect on a way of life unafflicated by temporality yet devastated by violent events in the country of my birth, Yugoslavia. Read more

Collections from Behind the Iron Curtain: The Baruch Foundation

By Barbara Kalwajtys | Throughout the latter half of the Cold War, in a space above Michigan Avenue, Chicago, art dealers Anne and Jacques Baruch invited guests to peer into the rich world of art from behind the Iron Curtain. Today, although the Jacques Baruch Gallery only exists in the memories of those fortunate enough to have experienced it, the Baruch Foundation continues its mission in finding the rightful place for Central and Eastern European art in museum collections. 

On Mark-Making. Dora Maurer's Systemic Alchemy and Kinetic Captures.

By Emese Revesz | Since the 1960s, Hungarian multidisciplinary artist Dora Maurer has pursued printmaking to explore creative conceptions rooted in transmutation and action. Her printmaking laboratory in Budapest functions as an arena to document progressive systematic elements in traditional intaglio format. For Dora Maurer, process became the space “to figure it out.” Read more

Viktor Hulik: The Brink of Order and Chaos

By Eva Trojanova | Irritated by the statics of pictorial conventions, Slovak artist Viktor Hulik has been experimenting with space, color and technologies since the 1970s. His multimedia works and computer graphics disturb two types of order: the natural and the geometric. Printmaking for Hulik serves as a vehicle to navigate his continuous journey to capture the essence of change.

The Ambivalence of Solitude and Perseverance of Existentialist Thought

By Jelena Petrovic | Despite the continuous progress in different areas of human activity, the insignificance of the individual afflicts our time. The presented lithographs shaped by bodily imprints render an image of a mortal coping with alienation, be it in solitude or isolation. The absurd lingers, as it did a century ago, perpetually reflected in the misunderstanding of life. 

Intimately Constructing Pillars of Compassion

By Eva Hnatova | The project To Touch is a process-based exploration of compassion fatigue induced by the visually saturated, 24-hour news stream. Through drawing on, hand-pressing or ironing carbon paper, a 19th-century invention for producing duplicates of textual matter, I have attempted to create a pictorial apparatus for reawakening the sensitivity of viewers to the suffering and hardship of others. 

Immersed in the 2018 International Print Triennial Krakow

By Katerina Kyselica | Conceived as a mirror image of contemporary visual reality, the 2018 International Print Triennial Krakow in Poland brought under the summer spotlight 257 printmaking projects. From etchings, relief and screen prints, to video games, installations and laboratory extensions of movable imagery, the triennial surprisingly unveiled a romantic notion of the world through the resurfacing of humanity. Read more

The Precarious Process of Hand-Printing the Whales

By Zuzana Ruzickova | Garnered in sealess Central Europe, my strong desire to see a whale prompted me to travel around the globe. I learned about the creature’s natural habitat while exploring printmaking in its elementary form—with hand-printed impressions that act as records of time, places and happenings.