Water by Aspinwall Editions

Guest Curated On-line Print Exhibition

Water by Aspinwall Editions, New York, USA

“While looking through hundreds of images on Printed Editions, I began to focus on the myriad ways in which artists have dealt with water. Water in these prints plays an indispensible role, whether it is the sole focus of the print—its texture, aura, movement or stillness—or merely suggested and enhanced by its surroundings. It is interesting to note that in most of these prints the essence of water is conveyed without the use of color.

In Ker Xavier Roussel’s lithograph the shimmering effect of water casts a suggestive glow on the buoyant nymphs. Vija Celmins creates a mesmerizing and meditative rendering of a surface that is constantly in flux. Tom Orr’s system of seemingly simple line work captures both the movement and depth of cascading water.

Sara Lee makes good use of the woodblock grain to suggest delicate surface ripples (and reflect the grain in the sky), an effect that is intensified by the flat, darker shapes of the flanking trees and reflections. Matsumi Kanemitsu likewise takes advantage of technique: his skillful handling of lithographic tusche evokes the luminous and complex surface of water.

In Yvonne Jacquette’s nocturnal view of Manhattan shoreline the river’s presence is implied by means of a black expanse uninterrupted by artificial lights. In Richard Forster’s photogravure it is the black expanse of sand that renders the elegant, lace-like edge of the incoming sea all the more dramatic. And how to pick just one of Hiroshi Sugimoto’s seascapes? This one in particular imparts a heightened sensation of water: the sound, smell and feel of sea and fog. Indeed, the air is so dense with water that sky and sea merge together.”