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In 1986 Robert Indiana began working on his first etching at Vinalhaven Press, “Mother of Exiles”, a large aquatint to commemorate the centennial of the Statue of Liberty. In preparation he made four small plates to test the possibilities of aquatint, drypoint, line and softground etching. For each plate he used a single, one syllable word, Eat, Die, Hug and Err. These four words, which sum up the human condition, can be found in other works by Indiana. The artist and publisher later decided to use these four plates as the basis for another print, “American Dream”, a small edition of 10 printed in black ink. Ten years later Indiana reinterpreted the idea in a new print, making a new plate for “Eat” and using the same plates for “Hug”, “Die” and “Err”. This print was titled “The American Dream II”, printed in an edition of 50. The plates were printed in a lavender/purple ink with black edges. The color range is an unusual one for the artist. At the time he told us the color choice was inspired by a wall paint he was using to paint a room in the Star of Hope, the former Oddfellows building where he lived on Vinalhaven Island. We printed the edition in New York City at Galamander Press. The available impression was a gift to me from the artist for my work in printing the edition.
