Women in Print

(October 2021) Zane Bennett Contemporary Art is proud to present the gallery’s second iteration of Women in Print, an annual ode to the women who have shaped the world of printmaking. Comprised of works on paper by iconic artists Louise Bourgeois, Judy Chicago, Lesley Dill, Mary Heilmann, Helen Frankenthaler, Jiha Moon and Danielle Orchard, Women in Print shines a light on women’s oft-underexamined roles in the historically male-dominant field of printmaking. Curated by Kylee Aragon Wallis, this group exhibition features new and never-before-exhibited acquisitions to the collection by each artist, including the world premiere of Judy Chicago’s What if Women Ruled the World?. An Opening Reception will be held on Friday, October 29, 5–7pm.

For this diverse display of works on paper, including abstract expressionism, 21st-century modernism, minimalism and photographic work, Aragon-Wallis highlights a range of subjects and techniques, underscoring both the myriad possibilities of the craft and the endless innovation of its practitioners. Causeway by Helen Frankenthaler, featuring a bright, blooming blaze of tangerine and rose amid ghostly tonal greys, demonstrates the late artist’s masterful handling of spit-bite aquatint, a notoriously tricky technique she frequently engaged with throughout her career. In Thief of Baghdad, Heilmann, known for her loyalty to naught but her own artistic vision, re-explores a 1983 piece of the same name, highlighting her dedication to experimentation in craft and color. In her two-color lithograph Smile More, Orchard, the youngest living artist in the show, takes an expansive view of the past, present and future. She manipulates Modernist forms circa Picasso, championing contemporary modes and moods through wry expressions and defiant postures..

In addition to traditional works on paper, on view are three three-dimensional prints by Lesley Dill and Jiha Moon. Moon’s Take Out and Dill’s Rapture’s Germination, the only free-standing works on view, combine lithography with careful paper folding. Dill’s Poem Dress of Circulation, a work of airy, crinkled and tea-stained paper with a vibrantly-printed nervous system running throughout, leaps from the wall as if its unseen wearer is ready to dance. Together, the diversity of the works and artists gathered affirms that women printmakers are and have been forerunners in the ongoing project of rewriting art history—and rerouting power dynamics in the contemporary art community.

###

For press and image enquiries, please contact Marissa Fassano at marissa@zanebennettgallery.com or call (505) 780-8312 x1002.