John Abell Explores Gallows Humor on Love and Life

British artist John Abell is making a splash with his large scale relief prints.These mega-inked up babies  bring with them a microcosm of art historical references which allows the viewer to move through late 19th c. early 20th c image-making. Abell's interest to make the image a life-sized scale is not  a purposeful decision as much as it is opportunity.  You see, he uses available materials. The scale of the piece is the scale of the matrix. Plain and simple. The guy doesn't believe in wasting useful printing surfaces. Gotta love him for that. (Face it, most printmakers are a resourceful lot, and we've all re-used matrixes before.)

Abell maximizes his whole picture plane, and one finds fractured scenes with main characters and subplots, as one would find in a novel. His descriptions of love and sacrifice, of losing on'e head(quite literally cut off) from one's body is a little ghoulish, but meant in good humor. We all lose our heads when we're in love, or in fascination. As figures pine away for their beloveds, or stare at us complacently with their limbs detached and lying about, one ponders the sense of emotional or real pain one suffers in the course of a day or a life. 

The physical carvings or wounds upon  Abells' matrix  compliment the subject well. His references to the works of German Expressionist printmakers is clear, but he fills up the pictures with lots of flowing rivers - of blood, perhaps, for the work is in black and white, and if presented in color, might seem overpowering or repulsive. The animated quality the work retains lets us look endlessly through the compositions and want to touch their printed paper surfaces. 

Complicated passages of people passing through time, lost love, childbirth and impending death weave seamlessly together. We are curious where these subjects come from, but there is a whole history of cartoonish gallows humor. These are less cartoon-like, but harken back to more medieval times, where a 'how to be a good christian' prophesy and faith were more intertwined in one's daily existence. They are refreshingly simple, yet complex, and encourage us to break with printmaker's traditional scale to produce images we feel we can walk into.Bravo!

Abell pictured below printing an image in his apartment.

johnabell.blogspot.com/‎

The Fun and Funk Printmaker: Estonia's Tarrvi Laamann

Oh my, there's somethin'  happenin' in Tarrvi Laamann's work. On first glance, Laamann's bold colors appear not too carefully printed, maybe leaving the purists of this medium a little cold, but really folks, there is something in the way his 'doesn't care' about the limitations that sometimes come with tradition that is engaging. There's an absolute respect for the medium he's chosen to work with, but also a break with tradition which is a welcome breath of fresh air. He may or may not be aware of the visual lineage with German Expressionist prints, but he doesn't mind overlapping blocks to create a more complete final impression. This print above with the classic stare of a sensual woman inter-spliced between erotic fronds is arresting. The viewer's eye glances over the colors, but clearly returns to the woman's gaze. Simply done, the vertical lines which break up the space open the space surrounding her to dimensions of time. 

Laamann's latest images juxtapose a sort of rendered portrait of a familiar figure with loud, linear over-printings that jar the senses. The vibrations created with these off-set printed backgrounds throw off any sensibility for order. The portraits are the only anchor in this work of fun and funk. They are brash and evocatively remind us of music  - in Laamann's case it is reggae, but I also hear and see the evocations of a distant Arthur Dove painting interspersed. 

The raw and sensual rhythms pulsating throughout Laamann's work make me interested to see what's happening beyond these shimmering 'glimpses' he's provided us. There's more to the story, as one would find Asian art. We know there's more around the corner of the composition he's given us, but he's chosen to show us only a snippet of the main event - as Chinese and Japanese paintings and woodblock prints allude to. The image below shows us a catwalker with the music blaring in the background. Surely there is more for us to see, but he's given us the prime target for our viewing pleasure. What more could one want?

The following two images are  nicely composed and we get a nice dose of divinely endowed religious homage (with God's blessings via sun rays)and tropical gaming chance via sunny palm trees and dominoes. 

Laamann's examination of popular culture icons, like Shakespeare and Eva Peron (below), harken to Andy Warhol's similarly-themed series of pop icons of the 60's. In this case, Laamann broadens the reaches of his cultural interests and yet he places a humorous slant to Shakespeare's case where Hamlet's skull gets to go along on a tropical holiday. 

. And Peron's glamorous portrait set starkly against the abstracted musical strains of Evita blaring overhead is inspired.

Lastly, Laamann's interest in music and DJ-ing are a part of his personal interests, and so the wonderfully simplified image of records and vinyl ensues and we are transplanted to the era of Jamaican Bob Marley & the Wailers' tunes and sunny shores. 

These images seem out of character for an artist living and working in Estonia. We western artists think mostly of Estonia as being one of the former eastern block republics that were once a part of the dismantled USSR, but in truth Estonia has always been culturally and artistically a little on the rebellious side. It may have something to do with the location of Estonia having access to several western countries. They have been a much-maligned and fought over territory between the east and west for centuries, but in 1991 Estonia re-gained its independence and joined the EU in 2004. Artists like Laamann have enjoyed a fair amount of celebrity within the region and Scandinavian territories, but their visibility to the outside artistic community is still a far cry from where it should be. I am encouraged by the bravado of Laamann's work, and look forward to seeing its migration to the global artistic arena. 

Education:
1994-1998 Estonian Art Academy (graphics)
1998-2000 Estonian Art Academy (MFA)
2001-2001 ”Professional Skills for Instructors” IATA (Geneva)

Teaching:
2000- 2006 Tartu Art College (department of General Subjects teacher)
2007- 2008 Estonian Art Academy (Teacher of composition)
2010-xxxx Estonian Art Academy (Teacher of woodcut printing)
2011-xxxx Tartu Art College (Teacher of woodcut printing)

Exhibitions (selected):
1995 ”Etching” Olavi Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia
1996 ”Kümme Härga” Raatuse Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia
1997 Art Academy Gallery, Helsinki, Finland
1997 ”Tarrvi Laamann-s Revelation” Estonian National Library, Estonia
1998 ”Young Estonian Paintings” Nõmme Cinema, Tallinn, Estonia
1998 Porvoo Art Hall, Finland
1998 Sammas Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia
1998 ”International Midigraphics”, Pärnu
1999 Estonian Art Museum ”Pühamu”, Tallinn, Estonia
1999 Bolivar Art Gallery, Jamaika
2000 ”Dream of The Provincial Girl”, Sopot, Poland
2004 ”Laamann-s Juju” Tallinn City Gallery & Pärnu Art Gallery, Estonia
2009 ”Laamann-s Caribbean Juju”, Viimsi Sea Museum, Tallinn, Estonia
2009 ”Inernational Portraits”, IBL Art Gallery, Mauritius
2010 The 5th International Rokycanske Biennial in Graphic Arts, Czech Rep
2011 ”Laamann-s Abstrakt Juju”, Genialists club gallery, Tartu, Estonia
2011 ”Estonian Contemporary Printmaking, Eduard Wiiralt 2011” Tallinn, Estonia
2011 ”Ketju-Chain” Joellan gallery, Turku, Finland
2011 “Xylographie” Viljandi, Estonia
2011 “Juju” Helsinki, Finland
2011 ”Loovala Küllus” Estonia
2012 ”Ksülograafia & Tarrvism” Narva Muuseumi Kunstigalerii, Estonia
2012 ”Graphica Creativa 2012” Jyväskylä, Finland
2012 ”Muster” Von Krahli Galerii, Tallinn, Estonia

Books:
1997 ”Revelation Book” from Bible
2010 ”Lauldud sõna”, Veljo Tormis

Public Collections:
Estonian National Library, Estonia
Washington D.C. Congress Library, USA
Jamaican National Library, Jamaica
Estonian Art Academy Library, Estonia
Matti Miilius Collection

Awards:
Estonian Art Academy
Estonian National Culture Fund
Rokycanske Biennial 

Memberships:

Estonian Artist Association

Estograph - The Association of Estonian Printmakers

Contact:
address:  ”Raadio 2”, Gonsiori 21, 15020 Tallinn, Eesti
phone: +37 256 210 511
e-mail: tarrvi@gmail.com
www: www.Laamann.ee

http://estograph.ee/kunstnikud/

Irving Amen, The Intellectual's Print Master

Irving Amen, (1918-2011) influential printmaker, painter and sculptor, was born in New York City. He began to draw at the age of four, and at fourteen he earned a scholarship to study at the Pratt Institute, 1932-1939. During this period, he was inspired by the drawings of Michelangelo, and copiously studied his technique to perfect his own draftsmanship. He later studied at New York’s Art Students League, and the L’Academie Grande Chaumiere in Paris. 

From 1942 to 1945 Amen served in the military during World War II, and did some mural work in Belgium and the Unites states during that period. After his service he returned to New York where he developed his craft in printmaking and painting. He worked primarily in relief and intaglio, often depicting themes of chess(and quite a nice series of them, too), portraits, music, Judaism and the story of Don Quixote.

Amen’s first print exhibition was at the New School for Social Research,  and in 1949 he had a solo exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution. Later notable exhibitions included the Artists House in Jerusalem, the Library of Congress and the National Academy of Design.

 Amen traveled to Italy in 1953 where he produced a large series of eleven woodcuts, eight etchings and a number of oil paintings. Note* “Piazza San Marco #4” and its four woodblocks, produced during this trip, are part of a Smithsonian Institution permanent exhibit on color block printing.

In the 1960s, Amen taught at the Pratt Institute and was a much beloved Instructor of Art at the University of Notre Dame, in South Bend, Indiana despite not having a degree. His travels in Israel, Greece and Turkey in 1960 also led to a retrospective show in Jerusalem. And in 1974, he was commissioned to illustrate The Epic of Gilgamesh in woodcuts, for the Limited Editions Club.

In his later years, Amen moved to Boca Raton, Florida where he lived and worked until Alzheimers’ affected his memory and he stopped teaching.

Amen’s style is largely reminiscent of the angular line and shapes found in German Expressionism artists like Karl Schmidt-Rotloff, Erich Heckel, and Max Pechstein, and the fractured Cubist-inspired works of Mauricio Lasansky and Robert Delaunay. His explorations in vibrant, expressive colors reflect an exuberance often found with Stanley William Hayter’s work whereas Amen’s works on religious and Jewish themes have a somewhat somber tone. Overall, his work speaks to the wonder and breadth of life, hope and intellect.

Amen’s work is included numerous major collections, including the following: United States The Art Museum of Princeton The Boston Museum of Fine Arts The Butler Institute The City of Philadelphia Public Library The Corcoran Gallery Dartmouth College The Fogg Art Museum The Jewish Museum, New York The Judah L. Magnes Memorial Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Museum of Modern Art The New York Public Library The Philadelphia Museum of Art The Smithsonian Institution The University of Notre Dame Yale University Museum of Art International The Albertina Museum, Vienna The Auckland City Art Gallery, New Zealand The Bezalel National Museum, Jerusalem The Biblioteque Nationale, Paris The Biblioteque Royal, Brussels The Statische Museum, Germany  The Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Affiliations:
Society of American Graphic Artists

International Society of Wood Engravers

Audubon Artists

Commissions:

Peace Medal in honor of the Vietnam War

12 stained glass windows for the Agudas Achim Synagogue in Bexley, OH

Illustrations for The Epic of Gilgamesh, Limited Editions Club, 1974

Honors:

Mantle Fielding Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors and Engravers

Dictionary of Contemporary American Artists by Paul Cummings

 Portrait of Irving Amen