Ausstellungsdauer Duration 11. 11. - 23. 12. 2004
ALEX KATZ
prints 1966-2003, Ausstellungsansicht
Christine König Galerie, Wien 2004
ALEX KATZ
prints 1966-2003, exhibition view
Christine König Galerie, Vienna 2004
ALEX KATZ
Reclining Figure, 1987
8-Farben-Aquatinta und Kaltnadelradierung auf Somerset Satin
ALEX KATZ
Reclining Figure, 1987
8-colour-aquatint and drypoint on Somerset Satin
By 1965, anyone in the New York art community was looking at prints. They were a challenge, a new field in which artists could push to overcome limitations within a traditionally rigid and hierarchial medium. It was at this juncture that Alex Katz, with typical deliberation and thoroughness, brought his own unique attitude to the printmaking arena. He has created icons of contemporary American printmaking. Looking beyond such high points to his career, a progression of mastery from discipline to discipline can be traced, usually with unconventional ideas about what each medium should produce. He does not arrive at a printed image through spontaneous experimentation with the particular medium. When he enters a printmaking situation, he has already determined what he wants and will bend the medium to his purposes. Unlike painters who see printmaking as a separate activity, Katz always views it in the context of his entire corpus of work: „Prints are supposed to be, with my work, the final synthesis of a painting.“
By 1965, anyone in the New York art community was looking at prints. They were a challenge, a new field in which artists could push to overcome limitations within a traditionally rigid and hierarchial medium. It was at this juncture that Alex Katz, with typical deliberation and thoroughness, brought his own unique attitude to the printmaking arena. He has created icons of contemporary American printmaking. Looking beyond such high points to his career, a progression of mastery from discipline to discipline can be traced, usually with unconventional ideas about what each medium should produce. He does not arrive at a printed image through spontaneous experimentation with the particular medium. When he enters a printmaking situation, he has already determined what he wants and will bend the medium to his purposes. Unlike painters who see printmaking as a separate activity, Katz always views it in the context of his entire corpus of work: „Prints are supposed to be, with my work, the final synthesis of a painting.“