Guest Curation – Altered Landscapes

A curation of fine prints by Erik Hougen, Artistic Director and Master Printer, Lower East Side Printshop and organiser of the E/AB Fair.

“I have always loved photo-based work, and especially prints that use the photograph as a base for exploration. The works selected rely heavily on a photographic image, but use colourisation, hand cut or drawn elements, and layered images to enhance the reality of the scene.

Spanning many decades, the imagery in this group of works is unified by a suggestion of a larger narrative, or story, surrounding the print. Through different techniques, these prints use sparse landscapes as a foundation for imagination. Implied stories in both visual art and film, as well as concept albums in music have always been my favourite kind of works. These artworks have the ability to introduce the audience to a larger world, beyond their physical bounds, and invite the participant to escape to their universes.”