Patrick Merrill
Curator's Statement
Cultural Critics is an international exhibition featuring the printmaking medium, This exhibition is centered around my belief that one of the primary responsibilities of the artist is to be a cultural critic. I looked for artists whose work expressed political issues as a primary issue. These issues could be manifested as sociological, psychological, philosophical, or theological ideas. They can be interpretations of traditions, cultural stereotypes, or issues of power, race, sex, and class. I was not interested in "warm and fuzzy" narratives nor was I looking for purely formal art. Content was paramount in the selection for this exhibition.
In the beginning of the last millennium there was a powerful need for a rapid and democratic distribution of information. Printmaking was the answer. Printmaking enabled artists and their patrons to produce large numbers of images and text cheaply and quickly because it was simply paper and ink. This also made prints light-weight, easily transported and distributed. Often it was considered disposable art. The only reason we have as many examples as we do is because of the large number of prints produced.
Printmaking from the beginning has been used as a tool for propaganda. Remember the vast majority of people were illiterate. The powerful within church and state endorsed and sponsored the manufacture and distribution of images that carried their particular message. We know more about the details of these times from prints than we do from any other art form. All classes of people were represented; current events were dramatized, public figures pilloried and local heroes were canonized. While the powerful put their spin on the issues, artists were sometimes able to present counterpoints. Some in very subtle ways others with blatant raspberries in the arrogant face of authority. From the broadsheets of Western Europe to the beautiful Ukiyo-e prints of Japan printmaking has been used as a powerful tool of political agitation.