Styles & Movements

Printmaking in the 80s

Many contemporary artists continue to be drawn to printmaking by the variety and beauty of the surfaces it can produce, or by some peculiar affinity for the physical and material demands of the medium. In recent years, contemporary technologies have greatly expanded the possibilities of printmaking. New formats such as billboards, matchbook covers, subway posters, and T-shirts are now seen as well as more traditional wood and linoleum cuts, etchings, and deluxe illustrated books.

Thematic issues of language, photography, politics, and the body are as important in contemporary printmaking as they are in painting, sculpture, and other media. Artists in the 80s who explored innovative printmaking or created special print series include Jonathan Borofsky, Francesco Clemente, Keith Haring, Barbara Kruger, Tim Rollins & KOS, Susan Rothenberg, and many others.

Publishing studios such as Crown Point Press of San Francisco; Gemini G.E.L. of Los Angeles and New York; and Universal Limited Art Editions, of New York have been an essential component in the continuing experimentation by contemporary artists in printmaking media.