Pace Prints is pleased to announce Elliott Hundley, an exhibition of new monoprints by the multidisciplinary artist. Hundley’s first solo exhibition with the gallery will be on view February 25 – April 2, 2022, at Pace Prints, 521 West 26th Street, 3rd Floor.
Please note that this exhibition has been extended one week, through April 9, 2022.
Hundley’s inspiration is rooted in ancient texts, literature, and classical mythology merging with contemporary forms to create operatic and kaleidoscopic works of art. He is known for innovations in collage and assemblage over a multitude of mediums including sculpture, painting, drawing, and photography. His works on canvas are an accumulation of found materials in dialogue with figurative and text fragments. These elements, affixed using fabric pins, are meticulously organized to be viewed upon close inspection and at a distance as dynamic abstractions of form and color.
The featured String Figure Series consists of monoprints created in collaboration with Pace Editions’ master printmakers Sarah Carpenter and Justin Israels. What began as a conversation with the artist on how to emulate his drawing techniques developed into an exploratory feat in printmaking. With just six plates (two soft-ground etching, two hard-ground etching and two aquatint plates), the possibilities for variance became limitless. Hundley began by etching the plates which were then printed over photographic elements digitally isolated on paper. The ink colors were varied, and the plates re-combined and re-oriented. The plates were printed multiple times resulting in both full-strength and ghost impressions, providing the artist with a range of tones and intensities to use as a backdrop for hand-finishing. Hundley then applied ink using a toothpick and added collaged elements to complement the subtle mark-making from the etched plates, building each monoprint into a wholly unique work.
Hundley compares this series to his daily drawing practice, one that serves as a tool to cultivate spontaneous compositions in his larger, more orchestrated, bodies of work. He describes the use of the ghost image and layering in the construction of this series as a means to embed details beyond the boundaries of what drawing can render. Hundley was able to pack the same density of his colossally scaled work into these more modestly sized but fully actualized prints.
The adaptive reuse of material, along with a call-and-response methodology with the printmakers, prompted Hundley to ask the question, “How can we use this process in a way that is most generative instead of just a means of production?” The artist answered with the transparency of printmaking, allowing for, and encouraging, the process to be seen in the results. This way of working provided a sense of discovery for the artist, and examples can be seen in the repetition of portrait busts in String Figures V and String Figures XI, the matrix exposure in String Figure VII or the intended horizon line in String Figures XII. Hundley wants not only to allow glimpses into his process but to involve the viewer in the conversation.
Elliott Hundley (b. 1975) holds an MFA from the University of California and a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design. Hundley’s work is included in significant international public collections including The Broad, Los Angeles, CA; DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, Turkey; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX; Pérez Art Museum Miami, FL; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY; Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY. Hundley lives and works in Los Angeles and is represented there by Regen Projects and by Kasmin in New York City.