Come see etchings at Crown Point
By: Murray Paskin
Special to The Examiner
July 9, 2009
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| Color and form: Al Held’s “Pachinko,” a wood cut is among the works on view, and created at Crown Point Press. (Courtesy photo) |
SAN FRANCISCO — “Masterful” best describes “Summer Choices,” the current group exhibition of 42 etchings at Crown Point Press, a San Francisco gallery that since 1965 has specialized in etchings by some of America’s most prestigious artists, including Richard Diebenkorn and Wayne Thiebaud.
A unique feature of the show — and one that contributes to its exceptional quality — is that all the work has been created at the site.
Crown Point invites artists to make etchings, then links the artists with master printers who play a significant role. The gallery is actively involved in the creative process, and that special dynamic is evident in the completed works, which illustrate a high level of skill.
The show is set in a physically stunning gallery, a work of art in itself. Heavy wooden and steel beams in the building are visible, retaining their unpolished coarseness and surrounded by pristine white-painted walls. The stark beauty of the walls is enhanced by the crude, unpolished wood and iron.
Daylight floods the spacious room through glass walls that are divided into sections by industrial-like iron frames; it’s a unique aesthetic.
Variety in size and style flourishes throughout the exhibition. Highly methodical, carefully thought-out styles mix freely with more spontaneous and loose ones.
Al Held’s ”Pachinko” is a colored woodcut — mostly yellow, red and blue — made up of fascinating, carefully placed forms of various sizes and shapes in arresting juxtapositions.
David Nash’s black-and-white “Square, Circle, Triangle” has a vitality rising from a sprinkling of tiny, black dot-like marks in varied density that seem to spill out of the forms. The sharp yet disorderly image has a liveliness that holds the viewer.
The effect of the etchings on viewers remains an impressive aspect of the exhibit. The artworks, though pictures, are clearly different from paintings, photographs or drawings, offering a uniqueness all their own.
The reasons lie, ultimately, in the etching technique and the role played by the printer — something about which casual viewers may not be aware until they take the opportunity this show provides to carefully consider absorbing artworks.
IF YOU GO
Summer Choices
Where: Crown Point Press, 20 Hawthorne St., San Francisco
When: 10 a.m to 6 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays; closes Aug. 31
Admission: Free
Contact: (415) 974-6273; www.crownpoint.com
