This week we are going to be entering the world of Bill Wiley. Bill was one of my favorite Landfall Press repeat offenders. I have several Wileys in my personal stash and did my utmost to secure my favs by hook or by crook (mostly I’d look at the print and sigh until Jack would say “Just take It!”). Landfall was and by extension Black Rock is still full of Wiley memorabilia and props; a striped branch here, a tattooed guitar and a paper dunce cap there. They all still emanate his warmth and humor.
And so … this week we are going to share a bit that was Bill with you all. For your perusal and enjoyment are some of our last remaining Wileys from inventory. – Steve Campbell, 2021
For more information, call us at 505.982.6625 or email info@bredtions.com
May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month – a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. A rather broad term, Asian/Pacific encompasses all of the Asian continent and the Pacific islands of Melanesia (New Guinea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji and the Solomon Islands), Micronesia (Marianas, Guam, Wake Island, Palau, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia) and Polynesia (New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands, Rotuma, Midway Islands, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, French Polynesia and Easter Island). For more information on AAPI Heritage Month, visit https://asianpacificheritage.gov/about/.
We will be highlighting some of our AAPI artists during the month of May. Email us at info@breditions.com or call us at 505.982.6625 for pricing and availability.
Jiha is from DaeGu, Korea and lives and works in Atlanta, GA. She received her MFA from the University of Iowa, Iowa City. Her works have been acquired by Asia Society, New York, NY, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, The Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC, Smithsonian Institute, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC, Weatherspoon Museum of Art, Greensboro, NC and The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA. She has had solo exhibitions at Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, GA, Taubman Museum, Roanoke, VA, the Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC, The Cheekwood Museum of Art, Nashville, TN and Rhodes College, Clough-Hanson Gallery, Memphis, TN and James Gallery of CUNY Graduate Center, New York, NY. She is the recipient of the prestigious Joan Mitchell Foundation’s painter and sculptor’s award for 2011. Her mid-career survey exhibition, “Double Welcome: Most everyone’s mad here” organized by Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art and Taubman Museum has toured more than 10 museum venues around the country ending in 2018. Jiha Moon’s Webpage
Peregrine Honig is back in the building with Black Rock Editions. Our first print of Spring is the aptly entitled Rebirth, a limited edition 5 color lithograph depicting unborn twin taxidermy fawns. This elegant print will be pulled by hand in a small edition of 24. The Twin Fawns are a recurring icon in Honig’s work. Purchased from a toy and science store, Honig commissioned a custom glass cloche and hand carved wooden pedestal for the object. She then hired master photographer EG Schempf to document the sculpture. Rebirth introduces the image to ink. Pale fresh colors and fragile beauty archive a conversation about conception and preservation.
Honig is always a favorite. With a collaborative history with our printers dating back over 25 years, her quick mind and agile hands allow for a fast study in whatever print medium she is introduced to. She listens, learns, and incorporates the master’s processes within hours. An authentic collaborator with a true spirit of give and take paired with an endless repertoire of jokes, Honig is a joy to work with. There is a decisive nature to all of Peregrine’s Honig’s work reminiscent of Caesar’s quote of “I came, I saw, I conquered “. She executes ink with conceptually and technically powerful results. A professional artist with a dedication and force that gives her an international platform, Honig emanates from the center of the United States and outward like the concentric rings of a pebble dropped in still water.
Peregrine Honig Rebirth lithograph. Photo courtesy E.G. Schempf.
Rebirth 2021 Lithograph 27″ x 32″ Edition 24 plus proofs
I never thought that a lockdown could have its advantages. In this case, it gave us time and opportunity to explore a side of lithography we never had the chance to do before. After completion of the small monochromatic edition of Fatima’s “The Watchers”, we began to ponder an approach to a color version and since Fatima’s painting style echoes the neo-classicism of a hundred plus years ago we reasoned a similar lithographic rendition would be appropriate. Jack (Lemon) has long been a fan of the Jules Cheret lithographs of 19th century Paris and suggested we follow a similar manner of working. The result is a 14 color lithograph not only in homage to old Jules but printed on the same kind of machine that would have been use back then, our c. 1870 Marinoni Voirin Press. I feel the resulting print was a huge success with overlays and a saturation seldom seen in contemporary prints. It’s really a print to let the eye linger on. Bravo Fatima and Bravo crew! Contact us at info@breditions.com for pricing and availability.
Fatima Ronquillo The Watchers (color) 2021 14 color lithograph 28 3/4″ x 20 1/4″ Edition 50 plus proofs
The crew here at Black Rock felt it might be a good idea to offer a series of prints designed for the beginning print collector. This will most likely be a recurring monthly theme with the expressed intent of exposing our followers to some really good prints at some very reasonable pricing. The artists in each of these episodes range from early to established careers and hail from all parts of the country.
I’ve sold prints at art fairs for 30 odd years and a repeated question has always been “Will my print increase in value in the future?” The answer of course is some will and some won’t, but I have always been an advocate of buying what resonates with you. Good art you love is always a delight to live with. Chris and I have been fortunate to have accrued a pretty good selection with a substantial portion of it up on the walls. Our choices for the wall could be considered eclectic but I still stop and admire a different passage in a different print all the time.
The print medium is considered the most democratic of art mediums especially for beginning collectors, you may not be able to afford that painting or sculpture but by comparison, everyone can afford a print. So, please peruse, enjoy. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.
Jessica Abel Girl’s Comics #5 1988 Lithograph 21″ x 16″ Ed 25 Printed and published by Landfall Press
Richard Hull Play 1989 25 1/4” x 33 1/4” Ed 50 Printed and published by Landfall Press
Kathryn Lynch Splash 2013 Etching 22″ x 20″ edition 20 Printed and published by Landall Press
Jeanette Pasin Sloan Espresso Cups 1996 Lithograph 22″ x 22″ Ed 20 Printed and published by Landfall Press
In 2020, Landfall Press celebrates five decades of operation, since its founding in Chicago, in 1970. Landfall Press and the team of Jack, Steve and Chris have been in Santa Fe, New Mexico since 2004. Together, (Jack and Steve) as a team since 1989 (Chris joined in 2004), they have continually published and printed fine art editions for a diverse and international group of artists. This historic achievement is celebrated in a major traveling exhibition currently at the Milwaukee Art Museum, Landfall Press: Five Decades of Printmaking, along with a forthcoming 600 page book that documents Landfall’s fifty years in its entirety. (check out http://www.landfallpressbook.com for book purchase information.)
Therefore, Jack Lemon has chosen 2020 as the perfect moment to close the book on Landfall and turn the page to begin a new chapter. As of January 1, 2020, Landfall Press ceased operations as a printer/publisher. The entire workshop in Santa Fe will remain intact and become a new business with a rock-solid foundation to build upon. Black Rock Editions, LLC, directed by Steve and Chris Campbell began operation in January 2020. Jack Lemon steps away, knowing that Landfall’s legacy is secure, and the tools of his trade are in the capable hands of Steve and Chris Campbell.
Black Rock Editions, LLC, is founded in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to establish a fine art print shop dedicated to serving under-represented artists including but not limited to Black|Indigenous and POC, women and the LGBTQ+ community. The goal is to produce fine art limited edition prints (lithographs, etchings and woodcuts) in a collaborative, professional environment. The prints and multiples published by the company will be marketed through Black Rock Editions, LLC, and a known structure of national and international galleries. The objective is to establish and/or further the professional careers of the selected artists within the context of an established art world and museum network. The Southwest contains a dense concentration of Native artists. Black Rock Editions will be the only known print shop in the region whose mission is dedicated to serving these specific communities and by extension, the State of New Mexico and its historic Native cultures.
Black Rock Editions, LLC has established a gallery space to feature the company’s publications. A program of rotating themed exhibitions will be presented throughout the calendar year to feature other relevant artistic statements specific to the company’s mission. The company will also establish and maintain a robust on-line and social media presence to market and sell the publications and share news. The importance of this is to place the publications and Black Rock Editions, LLC in the most efficient global markets, with global accessibility for all.
There is a notion about the democracy of the print medium. While not everyone can afford a unique work by their favorite artist, almost anyone can afford a print by that artist. Black Rock Editions LLC, is dedicated to producing affordable editions of the highest quality. One of the programs to be initiated is The BRE Subscription Program. A subscription program identifies a number of works/editions that will be offered to collectors at a pre-publication package price, with the understanding that these works are purchased at a substantial savings from the retail value of each individual work. We like to think of the program as an “investment in the future”, and almost everyone knows that planning ahead can bring rewards.
DUE TO COVID, WE ARE UNABLE TO HOLD WORKSHOPS, CLINICS OR OPENINGS.
Included in future programming for Black Rock Editions, LLC, workshops and classes will be scheduled to reach the Santa Fe community by offering interested individuals or groups an opportunity to explore the history, the making and the collecting of fine prints. Guest speakers will include artists, arts professionals, curatorial and academic practitioners, all known experts regarding a specific topic or subject of the program.
Keep checking back for updates and thank you for your support through a challenging year.
