Pace Prints is pleased to announce Joel Shapiro: Etchings & Woodcuts, on view at its 32 East 57th Street gallery, March 21–April 21, 2018. Featured at the opening of the exhibition will be Hart Crane’s The Bridge, a scroll of the poem illustrated with woodblock prints by Joel Shapiro, published by Arion Press.
An opening reception will take place on Thursday, March 22, 6–8pm* at which Joel Shapiro will deliver remarks as will Andrew Hoyem, publisher of Arion Press, and Professor Langdon Hammer, chair of the English Department at Yale University.
*Please note that the reception has been postponed one day from the original date of Wednesday, March 21, due to the incoming storm.
Shapiro’s etchings of primary forms are infused with powerful yet subtle modulations of texture and color, with values ranging from the deepest blacks to the most delicate plate tones. These prints, published by Pace Editions, were created in collaboration with Aldo Crommelynck, a master of etching techniques and world renowned as a printer and collaborator of Pablo Picasso. Prior to his retirement, Crommelynck worked with a number of artists at Pace Prints.
Shapiro’s work in the woodcut medium marries the graphic elegance of his compositions with a sculptor’s interest in elemental material. Starker in color and contrast than his etchings, Shapiro’s woodcuts also show off superb carving and a heightened wood grain that make the block itself a central figure of the works. Several recent woodcuts will compliment a number of earlier woodcut editions.
The Bridge is a scroll that is over fifty feet in length. It was printed from handset type on Chinese handmade paper in an edition of 300. The scroll will be on display through March 30, alongside additional woodcut prints by Shapiro in editions of 30.