This month we have introduced many new works to our exclusive print portfolio. Click on the links to see the art in all it's glory! NEW YORK ARTIST: Suzy Kunz: Suzy Kunz is an artist working in Photography. Her focus was Photography and Sculpture at Indiana University, and also pre-med at the University of Colorado where she received a BFA. She also has an MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she studied Sculpture and Filmmaking. She has lived in Manhattan since 1986. [caption id="attachment_8751" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Eye of Newt, Suzy Kunz 2000[/caption]

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  CHILEAN ARTIST Margarita Dittborn Valle: Margarita is a Chilean artist who creates collaged photographic prints. Drawing on the Dutch Masters and Surrealists Margarita creates grand, mysterious environments that boarder on dreamscapes. She is represented by Galleries in Asia and the America's as well as being in the collection of notable museums including the New Museum in New York City. [caption id="attachment_8954" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Santa Margarita 2007, Print by Margarita Dittborn Valle[/caption]

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  CALIFORNIAN ARTIST: Steve Gibson We have also added a new print selection to Steve's portfolio: [caption id="attachment_9175" align="aligncenter" width="628"] Untitled, 2014. Print by Steve Gibson[/caption]

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  Also new this month, a beautiful print by the fabulous Rachel Ritchford! [caption id="attachment_9197" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Landscape with Half Gesture, 2006. Print by Rachel Ritchford[/caption]  

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SUZY KUNZ is an artist working in Photography. Her focus was Photography and Sculpture at Indiana University, and also pre-med at the University of Colorado where she received a BFA. She also has an MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she studied Sculpture and Filmmaking. She has lived in Manhattan since 1986.

A traditionalist at heart, Suzy's Black &White portfolio is made up of silver gelatin prints. No photoshopped photos included. All prints are editioned

[caption id="attachment_8766" align="aligncenter" width="638"] Invented Frivolia, Suzy Kunz 2000[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_8773" align="aligncenter" width="652"] Morning Glories I, Suzy Kunz 2000[/caption]

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EXCERPT FROM ART LTD MAGAZINE [divider] Julika Lackner: "Major New Works" at Alex Mertens Fine Art  by charles donelan Jan 2014 Spectral Phase #4 2013 Acrylic, Oil + Alum-Silver on Canvas 96" x 72" Photo: courtesy Alex Mertens Fine Art Occasionally a young painter makes a quantum leap forward to a new level, and this seems to be the case with Julika Lackner, as evidenced by a fine and comprehensive exhibition this fall at Alex Mertens Fine Art, in Montecito, just outside of Santa Barbara. Lackner was raised and educated partly in Santa Barbara, partly in Berlin, and the balance she's achieved between the representational rigor and psychological tension of the Northern European tradition and the sun-soaked pleasure principle of Southern California makes her work both viscerally and intellectually engaging. Her new tack, which, to be fair, has been underway for at least three years, involves a shift from representation to abstraction--from standing apart from the scenes she paints to a kind of merging with the atmosphere. The self-assured elegance and power of this change was made possible by long hours of research and practice painting representational light situations, from lively night skies to lurid urban lightshows to aerial views semi-obscured by gauzy clouds. The new series of works, which are titled Spectral Phase numbered 1-8, were painted in 2013; they follow other, large immersive canvases from the years 2011 and 2012 with names like Daybreak and True North. They combine great washes of saturated acrylic color with reflective aluminum surfaces and fields of geometrically arranged brushstrokes in the ovoid shape of small lozenges, or, as critic Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe has termed them, "boats." Their overall impact lands somewhere between Mark Rothko and the avant-garde cinema of Stan Brakhage. The term "boats" derives from the look of Lackner's 2008 series of representational aerial views of Los Angeles, and in particular from an image of Marina del Rey, called From Above, that depicts actual boats. However, in her new paintings, these floating signifiers have shipped anchor and begun to move through a new element that's part air, part water, and all visual sensation. Their presence in the midst of Lackner's masterful control of adjacent color values and reflective surface effects makes these paintings a persuasive contribution to the ever-shifting tradition of contemporary art in California, and beyond.

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DRAWING ALGORITHM: Begin with 1cm horizontal line drawn in 7 colors, stacked vertically in top left corner. Move horizontally & follow with 1cm vertical line in 7 colors, stacked horizontally. Move horizontally & follow with 1cm horizontal line in 7 colors stacked vertically.   Move Vertically & follow with 1cm vertical line in 7 colors stacked horizontally & REPEAT [divider] This simple (albeit made up) example of a visual algorithm shows how an image can be created using the same self-imposed, predetermined sets of rules or algorithms used in the mathematical calculations that drive things like computer programs. When combined with an artist’s hand and a certain amount of unpredictability, generative art can produce some stunning results. TWFA’s Briony Barr has collaborated with physicist Andrew Melatos in Drawing on Complexity, an initiative that creates ‘art experiments’ in the form of large-scale, rule based floor drawings made by groups of participants using colored electrical (PVC) tape. Barr and Melatos invite external participants to create a drawing based on a set of devised rules. The artists do not direct the drawing process, instead they let the participants (agents) create the artwork just as much as the rules they are following. Over time, the interactions between the agents and the rules accumulate to create ripple effects that feed back into the artwork (or system) changing it's course. This happens over and over again, making the drawing complex and unpredictable. The artists document their work in time lapsed video with a written account of the project that is then uploaded to their website. This month the pair coordinate Drawing/Undrawing at NGV community hall in Melbourne. Stay tuned for future projects and be sure to check it out and contribute! Below is the pairs documentation for Experiment #4 at the National Museum of Modern & Contemporary Art in Seoul. [divider] Experiment #4 Duration: 5 hours Agents: 24 Size: 12 x 12 m Location: The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea Date: 2013 The drawing was structured using an underlying pencil grid, providing two ways for the different agents to move around; on top of the lines articulating the grid (S1) or inside each grid square (S2). In phase one of the drawing, we allowed agents to have only four ‘children’ (four collaborations) before moving on. In phase two, agents working together were allowed to combine their genetic material as many times as they wanted. This rule variation resulted in many agent duos choosing to have rather a lot of ‘children’. In almost every drawing experiment we see this tendency towards the most efficient way of doing something. In the case of Experiment #4, working as a couple over a longer period of time, repeating the same act, means better strategies can be developed for getting things done (i.e. making a collaborative drawing). This is common sense and also a fundamental tendency of nature; to take the most energy efficient route.

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The print was one of the first examples in human history of a mass produced item. From humble beginnings over 3000 years ago, print technology has made it possible for hundreds, even millions of identical images to be produced from a single source. From early Chinese woodcuts to the modern machine press, the print has brought visual media to the masses. Andy Warhol was inspired by mass production, so much so that the process of reproduction became the focus of his art, both physically and conceptually. Warhol theorized that the most important, cultural significant items were those that were accessible to everyone thanks to the economy of mass production. “What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. [...] The President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke too.” Andy Warhol. In his 'Factory', Warhol would create copies of each artwork through the screen print - the original artwork essentially no different to the reproduction and no less valuable. The body of multiple prints were in fact the artwork, a piece made of numerous identical components. A friend now has a Flea Market print of a Warhol Campbell's Soup Can hanging in his living room. It may be a poster, but the image is still an exact copy of the real thing. The Campbell's Soup Can is the perfect example of an artwork that has been incessantly reproduced to the point that it has become a cultural icon. Reproducing the artwork in print hasn’t adversely affected the aura of the original series hanging in the MoMA, instead it has formed the basis of it's fame. The Campbell's Soup Can has long ceased to be famous because it is great - today it is great because it is famous.       ‘I should have just done the Campbell’s Soups and kept on doing them ... because everybody only does one great painting anyway.’ Andy Warhol  

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