Crown Point Press presents a fall group exhibition, Water, with prints by Anne Appleby, Christopher Brown, April Gornik, Mary Heilmann, Alex Katz, Tom Marioni, Chris Ofili, Laura Owens, Markus Raetz, Ed Ruscha, Wilson Shieh, Pat Steir, Wayne Thiebaud, David True and John Zurier. Now more than ever, sustainability and conservation are in the forefront of the discussion about the environment and this involves water in all its forms. In California, we are in an extreme drought with wild fires as a consequence, while in other parts of the country there are unusual rainfall and weather patterns. Water is ubiquitous in our everyday lives, and it has been emphasized in art throughout millennia. Water connects us. The prints in this exhibition remind us of its beauty, omnipotence, and influence—each artist responds uniquely to the subject of water.
A key work in the exhibition is Waterfall Monoprint #8 by Pat Steir (shown above). In 1988, Steir made two editioned etchings in the Crown Point studio, Waterfall and Waterfall Night. She took back to her New York studio working proofs from both these prints, and used them to create a series of 37 monoprints. The media in both etchings are aquatint, spit bite aquatint, hard ground and soft ground etching, and drypoint. For the monoprints, Steir used other media (tempera acrylic, pastel, India ink, water-soluble pencil, pencil, chalk, Damar varnish and pigment) to draw over the printed proofs, and thereby created 37 unique prints. Waterfall Monoprint #8, for example, is a grand image, tempestuous in feeling, symphonic in its marks. Steir has captured the essence of water. In a 1991 interview with Constance Lewallen for Crown Point’s interview series, VIEW, Steir said of her waterfall paintings, “The paintings are, what actually is—paint falling. Paint falling does what water does, gravity is the important element. The paint, and gravity and me—gravity is the element that controls the image and makes the paint falling look like a picture of water falling.”
Los Angeles-based artist Laura Owens’s triptych, Untitled (LO426) depicts rollicking waves unfurling across three sheets of paper. The palette of blue and pink, dark maroon and purple is joyful, and Owens has masterfully created a celebratory sense of optimism and freedom.
The aquatint Black Brook 1990, by Alex Katz is an image of a stream at night. The light green and yellow leaves of an overhanging tree branch dance across a very dark background. Katz distills the essence of a quiet night using only color and form, and water is implied but not seen.
A trio of prints by Mary Heilmann are emblematic of waves as they line up across the horizon of the sea. Having grown up by the ocean in California, Heilmann often refers to water, waves and surf in her paintings. The colors she uses in each print suggest either a time of day or a place. The bright yellow of Yellow Lineup reminds us of a bright noonday sun. Lineup 2 shows the waves in a tropical sea, and New Lineup the turbid swell of the sea’s offerings.
Water is on view in the Crown Point Gallery at 20 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, from September 6 to October 29. Crown Point Press is committed to limiting the spread of COVID-19 and keeping our staff and clients healthy. All visitors to the Crown Point building must wear masks at all times. Our hours are MondayFriday, 9AM-5PM
