Marlborough Graphics is pleased to present Chroma, an exhibition of six extraordinary prints by celebrated artists: Louise Bourgeois, Ken Kiff, Beatriz Milhazes, Victor Pasmore, Grayson Perry and Bridget Riley. For all these artists, printmaking forms a significant part of their creative output and the artworks in this exhibition have been selected for the particularly skillful and bold assertions of color through a range of printing techniques.
In Large Fragment 2, 2009, Bridget Riley’s signature op-art forms are rendered with vivid precision using screenprinting. In Pimenta vermelha (Red pepper), 2009-10, Beatriz Milhazes combines layers of woodblock and screenprint to create an intricate layering of compositions, a method also typical of her paintings and textile works. The painterly spontaneity of Ken Kiff’s monotype, Green Fish, Woman Rowing, Man Climbing Steps, 1996, makes impressive use of a one-off printing method which is so close to painting itself. Hear the Sound of a Magic Tune, 1974 is a typical example of Victor Pasmore’s pioneering lyrical abstraction. Grayson Perry’s monumental Selfie with Political Causes, 2018, triumphantly asserts its message through the bewitching array of color and texture created by layers of large woodcut. In Triptych for the Red Room, 1994, Louise Bourgeois uses her mastery of etching to depict the nuances of pain and ecstasy of the figures and contrasts this with luscious washes of blue aquatint.
Each artwork is a testament to the unique ambitions of the artists who have created them and the rich variety printmaking offers.