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Hung Liu, Crossing the River: Leaping, 2003, 30 x 44 ½ ”, color lithograph

The beautiful print above by Hung Liu is in the exhibition I recently curated titled Shark’s Ink: The California Crew. This exhibit is now installed at Frasier Meadows Retirement Community in Boulder, Colorado and is part of a unique collaboration between the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art and Frasier Meadows. It is a gorgeous exhibit! However because of covid restrictions, people outside of the Frasier community will not be able to see the exhibition. So I have put together a “walk-through” and document of the exhibition. It was so much fun to work with my dear friend master printer Bud Shark and his “team” at Shark’s Ink and also with the BMoCA staff in putting this exhibition together.

Introduction:

Master printer Bud Shark has been creating highly crafted fine-art prints in collaboration with respected artists from across the United States and Europe since 1976, right here in Colorado. Shark’s Ink: The California Crew showcases the prints of fourteen accomplished California-based artists made with Bud Shark over the last four decades.

You will see – golden landscapes from Susan Hall; an exuberant abstraction by Rex Ray; beautifully rendered portraits by Hung Liu; a ferocious climbing tiger from Don Ed Hardy; a cartoonish Rin Tin Tin by Roy De Forest; the digitally based abstract works of Amy Ellingson; a striking painterly print by Italo Scanga; Mildred Howard’s elegantly repurposed and collaged antique engravings; Alison Saar’s modest portrait of an African American washerwoman; William T. Wiley’s finely wrought woodcut print of the ancient biblical sea creature Leviathin; Enrique Chagoya’s sardonic but serious commentaries on contemporary culture; Kara Maria’s explosive and almost psychedelic patterned prints; Brad Brown’s delicately torn and reconfigured monotypes and Robert Hudson’s monumental lithograph that seems to refer to the abstract sculpture for which he is known.

The prints in this exhibition represent the talents of the individual artists combined with the unique artistry and vision of master printer Bud Shark.  While working with Shark and his skilled team each artist is invited to manifest their work with a variety of printmaking processes – lithography, monotype, three-dimensional prints, woodcut, chine collé, collage, digital, and hand coloring. The results are beautiful, masterful, stunning.

Sherry Wiggins  – October, 2020

The exhibit begins in the big open gallery space with the landscapes of Susan Hall and the brilliant abstraction by Rex Ray:

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Susan Hall, Solitary Oak, 2012, 18 x 24”, color lithograph

Susan Hall, As the Moon Rises, 2012, 18 x 24”, color lithograph with pochoir

Rex Ray, Pyzinerol, 2010, 44 ½  x 30 ¼ ” , color lithograph

Hung Liu’s painterly portraits are hung in the main gallery:

Hung Liu, Unofficial Portraits: The Martyr, 2001, 30 x 30”, color lithograph w/collage

Hung Liu, Official Portraits: Immigrant, 2006, 30 x 30”, color lithograph w/ collage

I couldn’t resist hanging Don Ed Hardy’s finely wrought climbing tiger next to Roy De Forest’s wonderful dog print/sculpture:

Don Ed Hardy, Climber, 2011, 40 x 26”, color lithograph

Roy De Forest, Ode to Rin Tin Tin, 2002, 34 x 39  x 4” , color lithograph/woodcut in artist made frame

We juxtaposed the elegant computer based abstractions of Amy Ellingson with the large vibrant painterly print by Italo Scanga:

Amy Ellingson, Variation (White/Oak), No. 1, 2019, 32 ¾ x 30 ”, color lithograph

Amy Ellingson, Variation (White/Oak), No. 2, 2019, 32 ¾ x 30”, color lithograph

Italo Scanga, Celeste, 1991, 53 ¼  x 37”, color lithograph

In the more intimate hallway we hung Mildred Howard’s series of multi- layered monotype collages with Alison Saar’s lusciously drawn figure of the washer woman:

Mildred Howard, Assegnazioni con De Seingalt II, 2017, 20 ¾ x 17”,  collage/ chine collé/ digital/ litho 1/1

Mildred Howard, Assegnazioni con De Seingalt IV 2017, 20 ¾ x 17”,  collage/ chine collé/ digital/ litho 1/1

Mildred Howard, Incontro con Casanova: il potere dell’Altro VII, 2018, 20 ¾ x 17”,   monoprint/ digital/ litho / collage 1/1

Mildred Howard, Incontro con Casanova: il potere dell’Altro XXII, 2018, 20 ¾ x 17”,  monoprint/ digital / litho / collage 1/1

Alison Saar, Washtub Blues, 2000, 30 x 20” , color lithograph

And the magnificent Leviathin creature by William T. Wiley is hung on it’s own, this is a very large print, and incredibly detailed!

William T. Wiley, Leviathin #VIII, 1992, 26 ¼ x 78 ½ ”, hand colored woodcut

The delicate collages of Brad Brown’s are hung next to the large sculptural print of Robert Hudson’s:

Brad Brown, By and By #12, 2005, 17 x 29”, color monoprint collage

Brad Brown, By and By #17, 2005, 26 x 36”, color monoprint collage

Robert Hudson, White of the Eye, 1986, 47 ½ x 31 ½ ”, color lithograph

And the powerfully patterned prints of Kara Maria are hung next to the thoughtfully thinkfully prints of Enrique Chagoya’s:

Kara Maria, No Heroes, 2004, 22 x 30” , color lithograph

Kara Maria, Hawaiian Punch 2, 2010 , 20 x 15”, color monoprint

Kara Maria, Hawaiian Punch 5, 2010, 20 x 15”, color monoprint

Enrique Chagoya, Illegal Alien’s Guide to Somewhere Over The Rainbow, 2010  24¾ x 40 ¾ ” color lithograph w/chine collé

Enrique Chagoya,The Thingly Thingness of Things , 2013, 22¼  x  30”, color lithograph

It is a fantastic exhibit and I want to thank Bud Shark – for being the remarkable artist and master printer and good guy that he is, Barbara Shark and Roseanne Colachis for all their help on the exhibit and of course the wonderful staff at BMoCA, Nicole Rausch, Kiah Butcher and David Dadone and Frasier Meadows for hosting this exhibit.