Mixografia: Est. 1969 celebrates a tradition of collaboration, honoring the artists who continue to expand the language of prints and the Mixografia process. Through persistence, inventiveness, and an emphasis on total creative freedom, a family of engineers has brought artists together with Master Printers to lay the groundwork for an intergenerational and international lineage of artmaking and experimentation.

The history of Mixografia can be understood through its connections to artists and the transmission of concepts into works of art. Each new project presents new challenges, growing outward from a process of experimentation and dialogue with artists to give form to ideas. In 1969, it was Pablo O’Higgins who encouraged Mixografia Founder Luis Remba to repurpose his family’s small Papelería e Imprenta Santo Domingo in Mexico City into a fine art printing workshop – converting offset machines designed to print stationery products and catalogues into fully-functioning lithography presses, and ultimately collaborating with many of the most distinguished artists in Mexico and throughout Latin America.

There are as many stories as there are artists in Mixografia’s roster. Among them: a serendipitous encounter with Helen Frankenthaler at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, on the occasion of the Museum’s grand opening and during which her work was featured. Following many years of brief contacts and near-misses, it was not long until the unconventional workshop on the Southern outskirts of Downtown Los Angeles convinced Frankenthaler of Mixografia’s experimental potential. Meanwhile, aware of Henry Moore’s friendship with Rufino Tamayo and his early fascination with ancient Mayan imagery, Lea and Luis Remba met the sculptor at his Much Hadham studio outside of London with greetings from Tamayo. After inviting them in for tea, they parted ways with the makings of a new project. And John Baldessari, the ever-generative and genre-defying artist, became fascinated by the idea of a print as a sculptural object made with layers of handmade paper, and expanded the traditional notion of a printed image into three-dimensions with his Table Lamp with Shadow monoprint series from 1994.

Shortly thereafter, Ed Ruscha conceived of his series of prints depicting ethereal silhouettes behind veils of dried grass, marking the beginning of a collaborative relationship that persists to this day. Mixografia pushes forward in the spirit of continuity, collaborating with artists such as Analia Saban and Alex Israel, whose work exemplifies their singular artistic identities and reflects the influence of teachers and mentors. Today, each artist’s distinctive vision — combined with the indispensable talents of Salvador Campos and Master Printers Edgar Barradas, Lucho McBurry, Rodrigo Montoya, and Ubaldo Muñoz — allows Mixografia to explore new territory in prints. From Analia Saban’s material explorations to Alex Israel’s buoyant self-portraits; Louise Bourgeois’ scarlet webs to Jonas Wood’s emphatic clippings; Rachel Whiteread’s rusty paint can to Ed Ruscha’s rusty street signs, the presses roll on.