Madelyn Jordon Fine Art Matrix to Impression: Contemporary and Modern prints - including works by Josef Albers, Joe Andoe, Jean Arp, Milton Avery, Nell Blaine, Stanley Boxer, John Chamberlain, Sam Francis, Stanley William Hayter, Jasper Johns, Wolf Kahn, Sol Lewitt, Joan MirĂ³,

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Matrix to Impression: Contemporary and Modern prints

Including works by Josef Albers, Joe Andoe, Jean Arp, Milton Avery, Nell Blaine, Stanley Boxer, John Chamberlain, Sam Francis, Stanley William Hayter, Jasper Johns, Wolf Kahn, Sol Lewitt, Joan Miró, Joan Mitchell, Abraham Rattner, Robert Rauschenberg, Sean Scully, Kiki Smith, Donald Sultan, Antoni Tapies, Fumiko Toda, Ossip Zadkine and others

January 21 – March 5, 2011

Madelyn Jordon Fine Art is pleased to present a group exhibition, entitled "Matrix to Impression: Contemporary and Modern prints", from January 21st thru March 5, 2011. The exhibit will include a selection of nearly 25 prints - etchings, lithographs, monotypes, silkscreens, woodcuts - by the finest Contemporary and Modern artists. An opening reception will be held Friday, January 21, 2011 from 6-8PM. The public is invited. Previews and private showings are by appointment only.

The exhibition's artists are leaders of the primary schools of 20th century art - including Ab Ex, Pop, Minimalism, and Surrealism. Many made prints throughout their careers and were innovators of the medium. While the prints in the exhibition are primarily abstract, the work of Andoe, Avery, Blaine, and Smith is grounded in the figurative.

Contemporary printmakers in the exhibition include Andoe, Chamberlain, Johns, Kahn, Scully, Smith, Sultan, Tapies and Toda. Jasper Johns revolutionized printmaking with his innovations in screenprinting, lithography, and etching. Here, Johns's screenprint "Untitled" (1976), is executed with the artist's distinct crosshatched marks, a graphic method of adding depth and volume to an image or conveying the illusion of light in space. Johns's cross-hatching is gestural without being emotive; repeatable and ordered but not strictly geometric or reductive.

Contemporary artist Kiki Smith has focused on printmaking throughout her career. The body is a recurrent subject in her work, as is the inclusion of animals. In "Turtle” (2000), Smith pasted a shell over her own image, creating an awkward hybrid. "I found this anthropomorphizing interesting," she has said. "The human attributes we give to animals, and the animal attributes we take on as humans construct our identity."

Modern artists in the exhibition include Albers, Arp, Avery, Blaine, Boxer, Francis, Hayter, Lewitt, Miró, Mitchell, Rattner, Rauschenberg, and Zadkine. A highlight of the exhibition is a collection of iconic silkscreens by Josef Albers, one of the most influential artists and theorists of the 20th century, from his limited edition portfolio, Formulation: Articulation published in 1972.

Joan Mitchell's two lithographs - "Sunflower V" (1992) and "Tree I" (1993) will also be featured. Mitchell's prints represent a high-water mark in the history of Post-War American graphics. In "Sunflower V" Mitchell suggests the sensation and quiet beauty of dying sunflowers without overtly depicting its elements. In "Tree I", Mitchell's fiercely gestural strokes of color, both warm and cool, convey an energy and vitality uniquely hers. These are among Mitchell's most brash and exuberant prints.

Another highlight in the exhibition is Hayter's masterful engraving with soft-ground etching "Le Couple". Hayter, associated with Surrealism in the 1930s and with Abstract Expressionism from 1940 onward, is regarded as one of the most significant printmakers of the 20th century. As founder of the legendary Atelier 17 studio in Paris and NewYork City, Hayter collaborated with many major artists of his day. He was a master printmaker in his own right as well.

The exhibition offers an exciting presentation of prints by the Contemporary and Modern artists who used the medium successfully and powerfully.

Tuesday-Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.