Southland Galleries Put Winter Spotlight on the Printmaker’s Art

About 30 years ago, the Los Angeles Printmaking Society was formed not only to serve those who make prints, but also to educate the public about them and raise the profile of printmaking in the art world.

This winter, printmaking will reach new heights of visibility in the Los Angeles area because of the organization’s work in conjunction with 21 public and commercial galleries. Between now and the end of March, galleries from Westchester to Highland Park, from the South Bay to the San Fernando Valley, are presenting exhibitions as part of “L. A. Print ‘93: Southern California Perspectives in Printmaking.”

“There really haven’t been a lot of exhibitions that focused on the graphic arts, especially printmaking,” said Gordon Fuglie, director of the Laband Art Gallery at Loyola Marymount University, who came up with the idea for the event.

While some shows concentrate on the work of contemporary printmakers, others will provide a historical view of the printmaker’s art. Although many of the venues will gather prints by local artists, some galleries are exhibiting work by nationally and internationally recognized artists, such as Helen Frankenthaler, Jasper Johns and Pablo Picasso.

The cornerstone of this print festival is the Los Angeles Printmaking Society’s “12th National Exhibition,” a biennial juried this year by Henry Hopkins, director of UCLA’s Wight Art Gallery and head of the university’s art department. Hopkins selected 90 works by 49 artists from across the United States and Canada. More than 330 printmakers submitted about 1,700 slides for consideration.

The show opens Wednesday at two sites: the Palos Verdes Art Center in Rancho Palos Verdes and the Laband Art Gallery, where 60 works will be on display.

It was Fuglie who engaged Hopkins to jury the show. Fuglie considers him the “senior spokesman for contemporary art on the West Coast.” He wanted an exhibit that “sets a standard for printmaking.”

“The history of printmaking has been about producing multiple images of the same thing,” said Henry Klein, the printmaking society’s president this year. Klein is an art instructor at Valley College and chairman of its art department. “In the second half of the 20th Century though,” he said, “it has also become a means of exploring multiple variations of the same thing--taking a matrix that’s repeatable and rendering it unique. Printmaking can be used to explore an idea without beginning from scratch each time.”

Hugh Merrill does just that in his “Torso Installation Sequence.” Starting with a headless torso in each print in this installation, he expands upon it--adding a head in one image, a heart in another, an assault by hands in yet another--conveying a variety of feelings about the physical, mental and emotional makeup of a person as well as the environment’s effect.

The content of the show’s prints ranges from contemporary environmental, social and political issues to popular culture, landscapes and biblical stories. In Sharon Mitchell’s etching and aquatint “Cena Ultima,” which translates to “The Last Supper,” vulture-like birds stand in the familiar formation of Christ and his disciples. These birds look not vengeful but thoughtful, perhaps even wise.

“I think it says God extends his grace to all creatures,” Klein said.

John Swanson’s richly colored screen print depicts 12 scenes in his “Story of Ruth.”

Laura Ruby has created a sense of the mystery, intrigue, danger and fun of Nancy Drew books in screen prints from her Nancy Drew series, “The Clue of the Leaning Chimney. . . .” and “The Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk. . . .” Val Akula’s hand-colored linocut casts an amusing eye on the issue of “Smoking or Non-Smoking?”

Wilfred Loring’s photo-like aquatint “Partly Cloudy II” contemplates laundry on a clothesline, blowing in the breeze. Sarah Pierce used a photogravure matrix for her meditations on light, “Inside Out” and “Light Impressions II.”

The Laband gallery is also presenting a solo show of etchings and lithographs by Ron Adams. Additionally, in the university’s Von der Ahe Library is a show of 15 works on paper by Thomas Stubbs, including color etchings and lithography.

The Los Angeles Printmaking Society’s “12th National Exhibition” is open 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays and noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays through Feb. 20 at the Laband Art Gallery, Loyola Marymount University, Loyola Boulevard at West 80th St., Los Angeles. For information on the Laband exhibits or the “L.A. Print ‘93” shows, call (310) 338-2880.

KANEMITSU WAVE: The Louis Newman Galleries is presenting a retrospective of paintings, sumi ink drawings, watercolors and lithographs by Matsumi (Mike) Kanemitsu (1922-92).

Born in Utah to Japanese nationals, he grew up primarily in Japan. In 1940, he returned to live in the United States. The next year, six months after he enlisted in the U. S. Army, Pearl Harbor was bombed.

Stationed at Ft. Lewis outside Tacoma, Wash., he was first put on 24-hour guard duty. After that, being the only Japanese man in his outfit, he was locked up in a barracks. Eventually, he was sent to Ft. Riley in Kansas, where he was given the job of washing dishes in the service club. There, encouraged by a librarian, he taught himself to paint and draw.

At the end of the war, Kanemitsu visited France, where he met Matisse, Picasso and Leger. After living in Baltimore, he moved to New York, studied at the Art Students League and began to associate with New York School painters, including Franz Kline, Jackson Pollack and Ad Reinhardt. By the late 1950s, he had established himself among the second generation of Abstract Expressionists.

In the mid-’60s, after making prints at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop in Los Angeles on a Ford Foundation fellowship, he moved here.

There are about 25 works dated between 1963 and 1988 in this retrospective, most of them acrylic on canvas paintings. They reflect combinations of the various artistic and cultural influences in his life. The flow of color in his abstractions of the natural environment--such as “Hawaii 3,” “Pacific Series 24” or “Hollywood Evening Sky”--also sheds California light on his artistic heritage.

His sumi on paper “50, Freezer, Snoopy” heeds an ancient Japanese art and American pop culture. His collage “Homage to Reinhardt” brings Reinhardt’s palette together with Kanemitsu’s sensuous lines and sense of humor.

It was Reinhardt who told him, “Don’t go along with crazy J. P.,” referring to Pollack. “Don’t be confused. You’re not an Expressionist--you’re a natural romantic Impressionist.”

“Matsumi Kanemitsu Retrospective” is open 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Sundays and Mondays through Jan. 29 at Louis Newman Galleries, 322 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills. Call (310) 278-6311.