Contemporary Prints

Printmaking maintains its connection to its roots as a commercial process for mass-reproduction of images through offset lithography and screen printing. Partially as a reaction to commercial use, and partially in acknowledgement of the versatility of the medium, contemporary artists celebrate various printmaking techniques to create magnificent original and editioned works.

Experimentation with different materials is pervasive amongst contemporary printmakers, and has become especially important to artists now that inkjet prints and other photomechanical means of reproducing images are simple and inexpensive. Artists print onto unexpected materials and use unconventional techniques, even incorporating inject prints, to create large scale works that stand on their own as unique works.

Quick Facts

• The Israeli artist Yaacov Agam created the agamograph, or a lenticular print, using a combination of two different images and a lenticular lens. This type of print allows the viewer to see three different images depending upon where he or she is standing
• Beginning in the 1960s, artist Frank Stella often combined lithography, silkscreen, and Intaglio and relief printing techniques to create mixed media works within the artists abstract style
• Recent works by Chuck Close combine various printmaking techniques to create pieces that are simultaneously abstractions within figural works