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Introduction A direct relationship exists between printing and fine art. This link was
forged by the use of printed matter in collages and other methods of incorporating images
from printed matter, a form which began with the papier colle works of Picasso and
Braque.The relationship was later enlarged, through use of screen printing by Warhol and
Rauschenberg, into a new space for thecreation of works of art using the technique of
printing itself. Shinro Ohtake is one of the artists now developing their own creative
universe through an exceedingly positive and profound connection with printed matter and
printing techniques. |
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Since he first began working, the source of Shinro Ohtake's images
has always been the multifarious printed items created, then casually thrown away
unregarded, by all modern societies: scraps of discarded newspaper, placards pasted
illegally inside public telephone booths, and so on. Ohtake uses these materials in
collages and also prints the images thus created in the form of artist's books, which he
has been publishing prolifically. |
| There may be a tendency to interpret Ohtake's method of
working as registering an objection to the hierarchical distinction between painting--as
high culture--and printing-- as low culture. However, Ohtake's oeuvre, characterized as it
is by an obsessive excess in both quantity and quality, suggests that the artist is
perhaps responding instinctively rather than consciously to the proliferation, production
and repetition essentially implied by printing, since printing, as low culture, is a
technique for reproduction. This exhibition has been designed to explore the relationship
between Ohtake's work and printing, to examine the significance of printing in relation to
fine art and, in turn, to our own sensibilities in what is fast becoming a world dominated
by multimedia. |
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Starting with experimental pictures indicating the feedback loop in operation between
Ohtake's work and printing, in which images from printed matter created by the artist
himself are blown up to large sizes using a digital inkjet printer and redone by adding
paintings and collages, the exhibition displays new works, including three-dimensional
multiples using wooden molds(analogous to printing plates) used to make fiberglass boats.
CCGA would like to express its deepest gratitude to everyone who
helped in the mounting of this exhibition. Besides Mr.Shinro Ohtake, who gave his best,
demonstrating awesome powers of concentration and enthusiasm despite various obstacles
along way, then we extend special thanks to our guest curator Ms.Kazuko Koike, and to
Mr.Pierre Restany, who contributed a much appreciated essay to the catalogue.
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Gallery Talk Opening Party Shinro
Ohtake: Printing/Painting
October 4(Sat.)1997
Photo:Haruo Goto Monochrome Co., Ltd. |
For more information concerning the Center for Contemporary Graphic
Art and Tyler Graphics Archive Collection (CCGA), visit the CCGA homepage.
Shinro Ohtake: Printing/Painting, exhibition catalogue CCGA 1997.
30.5 x 22.5 cm, 74 pages, full color offset print with soft cover.
Published by the Center for Contemporary Graphic Art and Tyler Graphics Archive Collection
(CCGA)
An exhibition catalogue containing the introduction by Pierre Restany, French art critic,
the artist's interview, chronology, selected bibliography and a large number of the
plates.
Price: Please inquire
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