Post Modern Art In Printmaking
Post modern art in printmaking, spanning roughly from the 1960s to the present, witnessed a revolutionary transformation in printmaking that challenged traditional hierarchies between “fine art” and “reproducible media.” This period saw printmaking evolve from a secondary medium used primarily for reproduction to a primary artistic vehicle capable of expressing the complex philosophical and aesthetic concerns of postmodernity. Artists during this era embraced printmaking’s inherent multiplicity, democratizing potential, and technological possibilities to create works that questioned authenticity, originality, and the very nature of artistic production.
Pop Art and the Screen Print Revolution
Pop Art fundamentally altered the trajectory of printmaking in the 1960s, with screen printing (silkscreen) becoming the movement’s signature technique. Andy Warhol’s iconic Campbell’s Soup Cans and Marilyn Monroe series demonstrated how commercial printing processes could be appropriated for fine art production. Warhol’s Factory became a laboratory for exploring the intersection of art and mass production, where the artist deliberately blurred the lines between unique artworks and mechanical reproduction. His embrace of “mistakes” in the printing process—registration errors, uneven ink coverage, and color variations—celebrated the medium’s inherent unpredictability.
Roy Lichtenstein similarly revolutionized printmaking by adapting the Ben-Day dot patterns of comic book printing into his screenprints and lithographs. His meticulous recreation of commercial printing techniques in works like “Whaam!” and “Drowning Girl” created a sophisticated commentary on media representation and artistic authenticity. James Rosenquist’s large-scale lithographs combined fragmented commercial imagery with the scale and ambition of history painting, while Claes Oldenberg’s soft sculpture prints challenged the boundaries between two and three-dimensional art.
Conceptual Art and Process-Based Printmaking
The Conceptual Art movement of the late 1960s and 1970s transformed printmaking into a vehicle for ideas rather than mere image-making. Artists like Sol LeWitt created instruction-based prints where the concept took precedence over the physical object. His wall drawing instructions, when translated into print form, questioned the role of the artist’s hand in artistic production and emphasized the democratic potential of reproducible media.
John Baldessari’s photolithographs and screenprints incorporated text and found imagery to create works that functioned as artistic statements and philosophical propositions simultaneously. His “I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art” prints became manifestos for a new kind of art-making that prioritized intellectual engagement over visual pleasure. Ed Ruscha’s artist books, such as “Twentysix Gasoline Stations,” utilized offset printing to create democratic, inexpensive artworks that could reach audiences far beyond traditional gallery spaces.
Neo-Expressionism and the Return to Traditional Techniques
The 1980s witnessed a resurgence of interest in traditional printmaking techniques, particularly lithography and etching, as Neo-Expressionist artists sought to reconnect with historical artistic practices while maintaining postmodern sensibilities. This marked another development in post modern art in printmaking. David Hockney’s pool series lithographs demonstrated how traditional techniques could be combined with contemporary subject matter and Pop sensibilities. His experimentation with paper pulp lithography and his later exploration of digital printmaking showed an artist constantly pushing the boundaries of the medium.
Julian Schnabel’s prints incorporated unconventional materials and surfaces, breaking down the distinction between printmaking and painting. His use of velvet, tarpaulin, and broken crockery in his print-based works challenged traditional notions of what constituted a “print.” Similarly, Anselm Kiefer’s massive lead books and prints incorporated materials like ash, straw, and lead, creating works that were simultaneously prints, sculptures, and conceptual statements about history and memory.
Feminist Art and Alternative Printmaking Practices
Feminist artists of the 1970s and 1980s embraced printmaking as a means of challenging male-dominated art institutions and exploring themes of identity, domesticity, and political resistance. Judy Chicago’s “The Dinner Party” project included extensive use of printmaking techniques in its documentation and dissemination. Her approach to collaborative printmaking challenged traditional notions of individual artistic authorship.
Kara Walker’s cut-paper silhouettes, while not traditional prints, utilized printmaking’s logic of reproduction and seriality to create powerful commentaries on race, gender, and American history. Her large-scale installations often incorporated multiple iterations of similar imagery, emphasizing printmaking’s capacity for variation within repetition. Lorna Simpson’s text-and-image photolithographs explored the intersection of race, gender, and representation, using the print medium’s capacity for combining different kinds of imagery and information.
Digital Revolution and New Media Printmaking
The advent of digital technology in the 1990s and 2000s created entirely new possibilities for printmaking. Artists began incorporating digital processes into traditional printmaking techniques, creating hybrid works that challenged the medium’s boundaries. Chuck Close’s collaborative prints with master printers like Joe Wilfer demonstrated how traditional techniques could be enhanced by digital technology, creating prints of unprecedented complexity and scale.
Kiki Smith’s prints incorporated digital manipulation alongside traditional etching and lithography, creating works that explored themes of the body, nature, and spirituality through a combination of old and new techniques. Her collaboration with various print workshops demonstrated how the postmodern era’s emphasis on collaboration and process could transform traditional printmaking practices.
Technological Innovation and Contemporary Practice
Contemporary printmaking continues to evolve through technological innovation and conceptual expansion. Artists like Wolfgang Tillmans have pushed the boundaries of photographic printmaking, creating works that exist between photography, printmaking, and sculpture. His experimental approach to photographic paper and chemistry creates unique works that challenge traditional categories.
The development in post modern art printmaking of inkjet printing technology has democratised high-quality colour reproduction while creating new aesthetic possibilities. Artists like David Hockney have embraced inkjet printing as a legitimate artistic medium, creating works specifically designed for this technology’s capabilities. The rise of 3D printing has further expanded printmaking’s possibilities, with artists creating works that challenge the medium’s traditional two-dimensional limitations.