SAN FRANCISCO, February 5, 2014 — As 1,500 printmakers from around the world visit the Bay Area for an international conference, the Fine Arts Gallery at San Francisco State University presents an exhibition showcasing new works by women artists living in Australia, Canada, Taiwan and the U.S. “Progressive Proof: Innovative Prints from the Pacific Rim” goes beyond the press to illustrate how this medium is evolving with other formats such as performance and installation art.
Show is part of Southern Graphics Council International conference, held on West Coast for first time
The exhibition opens Saturday, Feb. 22, with a reception from 1 to 3 p.m. Admission is free. It takes place in conjunction with the Southern Graphics Council (SGC) International’s 42nd annual conference, its first ever on the West Coast.
“This exhibition highlights the remarkable accomplishments of women on the West Coast and Pacific Rim, demonstrating how they are changing the face of printmaking as we know it,” says SF State Assistant Professor of Art Susan Belau, exhibit curator and co-organizer of the conference. “These artists are showing that this hybrid medium not only embraces diverse working methodologies, but is also a means to disseminate ideas and a catalyst for social change.”
Aimée Henny Brown will kick off “Progressive Proof” with a site-specific performance piece, “Making Everything Make Sense: A six-day print.” She will spend the first days of the exhibition in the gallery sewing together every January 2014 issue of the San Francisco Chronicle into a living, breathing work of art. Four other works by Brown will also be on display, including “One Week’s Hydration,” which includes 21 mason jars filled with holy water. Imin Yeh’s “Double Happiness” is a 4-foot-high installation of a produce stand found at many San Francisco markets, made from recycled fiber blocks and woodblock print. Taiwanese artist Pey Chwen Lin presents “Portrait of Eve Clone,” a set of four hologram prints depicting the dangerous seduction beneath the planet’s first woman. South Korea native Hyeyoung Shin’s “Weight of Being” consists of Japanese gampi paper castings of people’s feet and enlarged photographs of the bottom of feet, serving as a profound metaphor for the weight of a human being. “Locus of Water,” a collection of intaglio prints on Japanese paper by Seiko Tachibana, is already on display in SF State’s J. Paul Leonard Library.
Two SF State student-run galleries will also host free exhibitions in conjunction with “Progressive Proof” and the SGCI conference. Lisa Bulawsky’s mural installation “The Accident” will be on display in the Martin Wong Gallery. The Cesar Chavez Student Center Art Gallery presents “Exquisite History: Visionary Workbook.” In addition, the traveling exhibition “Monumental Ideas in Miniature Books III” will be on display March 27 only. Artists attending the conference will present themed portfolios in an open session March 27.
SF State’s Fine Arts Gallery is open Wednesdays – Saturdays, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. “Progressive Proof: Innovative Prints from the Pacific Rim” closes March 27. It is generously supported by the SF State Instructionally Related Student Activities Fund and SGC International Printmaking Conference 2014.
Matt Itelson, 415-338-1442, matti@sfsu.edu, San Francisco State University, College of Liberal and Creative Arts, 1600 Holloway Ave., San Francisco, California 94132