Twice in a Lifetime
It’s a curious thing to be considered an emerging artist twice in a lifetime. Thirty three years ago I was juried into an exhibition titled “A New Generation of Ohio Artists” at the School of Art Gallery at Kent State University. I also had a piece in a group show at The Columbus Museum of Art. The next year, I had my first solo show at Benjamin-Marcus Galerie in Columbus’ Short North Arts District. Then I faded from the art scene.
My work was created using the silkscreen process but in those years there were no quality water based inks or dyes. The vinyl inks and cleaning solvents were making me very ill. After a couple of bouts with pneumonia and a hospitalization, I abandoned my fine art work for a career as a graphic designer.
It was fortuitous that the Apple Macintosh desktop computer became available at the same time. For the next 30 years, my work followed the development of the Mac and its software. On the Mac Plus, I did desktop publishing. On a Mac II, I art directed a technology publication called Globetech and created digital illustrations for Columbus Monthly magazine. On an iMac, I did page layouts for Macmillan McGraw-Hill then worked myself out of a gig by training their staff when they brought the work in house. On a specially designed Quadra, I was one of the first to use the desktop video software from Avid to create marketing videos. And with a G3, I began designing websites on the Internet. Along the way, stat cameras became obsolete, typographers disappeared and digital printers were refined to where they could produce fine art quality prints on paper and fabric. Without the threat to my health, I’m excited to be making art again like I did so many years ago.
With all of my experience on the computer, I find myself working as if I were still a silkscreen printmaker. Back then I used photography and hand drawn or painted techniques to make the layers used in the final silkscreened print. Now I’m using the same techniques to make the layers used in the final digital print, but instead of using silkscreens with inks or dyes, I’m using computers with phosphors and pixels. It’s the same process with different tools. Rather than relying on the computer and its special effects capabilities, most of my work is done by hand. I’m striving to achieve that distinctive silkscreen look. In 1988, I made a print that used 23 separate screens—highly unusual for a serigraph. With the computer and digital printers, there is no limit to the number of colors I can use.
Now that my hiatus is over, I’m finding the process for an emerging artist to be much the same as it was thirty years ago: you must create work that reflects your artistic style and vision, you must create enough work to show a continuing viability in the marketplace, and you must get noticed. The structure of shows, exhibitions, galleries and museums still exists much as it did in the 80s. You must engage with these players and expose them to your work with hopes they respond positively. However, this is no longer the only path to take, as the Internet and social media have empowered the individual artist to present his art to the world.
That my reemergence is happening just as a global pandemic exploded across the world has certainly complicated things and changed plans. This summer I had planned a self-promoted show that was canceled. I had also hoped to visit galleries and begin networking once again, but that didn’t happen either. Thankfully, I can refocus my efforts to building an online presence and showcasing my work virtually. It’s curious how a health issue changed the course of my career. And now, with another health crisis affecting the world, it’s a good time to shelter and make new art. After all, I’ve already waited thirty two years.
