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The Print Center Receives Grant from Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative$118,700 Towards Demetrius Oliver Exhibition

PHILADELPHIA: The Print Center has been awarded $118,700 from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative (PEI) for an ambitious solo exhibition by New York artist Demetrius Oliver. The Print Center was one of seven Philadelphia institutions selected, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Institute of Contemporary Art and Philadelphia Art Alliance.

Demetrius Oliver’s practice weaves together disparate intellectual interests, ranging from jazz to the history of astronomy, to create works that bring visual form to the processes of exploration and experimentation. Relying on ordinary materials and found imagery, Oliver’s work has grown increasingly subtle over the last few years, revisiting similar or identical imagery and materials again and again, with each iteration resulting in new configurations. Many of Oliver’s recent works have included astronomical imagery, including metaphorical links between the moon (which was thought to be made of silver) and the silver process of traditional photography. For every exhibition, the artist has created a new piece, moving gracefully between media, and gradually building an increasingly complex and resonant body of work. This project is conceived in direct response to the curator’s request to think as expansively as possible about what constitutes a print (printed work being the core of The Print Center’s mission), and reflects the artist’s longtime desire to create an installation requiring a radical shift in the typical functions of an organization and its gallery spaces.

In spring 2013, Oliver will present a new video installation at The Print Center consisting of two live feed projections from high-power telescopes aimed at Sirius (the brightest star in the night sky) and on the constellation Canis Major, of which Sirius is a part. The video projections, installed in The Print Center’s second floor galleries, will be live and broadcast in real time, but they will appear to be static, presenting a complex use of lens-captured images. The gallery will be converted into an observatory open for one hour each night, so the exhibition will not be open during normal hours. When the exhibition is open, a lighted sign visible from the street, designed by the artist and showing an image of dog’s fur, will be lit. An audio component, composed and performed by the artist on a dog whistle (and therefore inaudible to human ears) will also be broadcast from the building’s façade during viewing times.

Recent projects and exhibitions by Oliver include Orrerry (2011), an installation on view at D’Amelio Terras, NY, in the form of a mechanical model of the solar system constructed from suspended umbrellas carrying various materials collected from the artist’s studio and home. At Light Work in Syracuse, NY, the artist created Penumbra (2011), a series of three video installations, which included a circular projection of a wave crashing against an unnamed shore onto the walls of the Everson Museum of Art. The image also closely resembled the surface of the planet Jupiter. For the High Line in Manhattan, Oliver created a billboard work Jupiter (2010), featuring five round photographs exposing mysterious acts and props, set against a solid, black background and resembling a planet floating in a night sky. That work was accompanied by weekly live performances of the John Coltrane composition Jupiter and was on view for a complete lunar cycle, from the beginning of a new moon to the end of its final quarter.

Oliver received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, his MFA from the University of Pennsylvania and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. The artist’s work has been included in a number of recent significant group exhibitions, including 30 Seconds Off an Inch, Studio Museum in Harlem (2009) and Black Is Black Ain’t, Renaissance Society, University of Chicago (2008). He is currently a lecturer at Princeton University and lives in New York City.

The exhibition, with accompanying programming and two publications, is scheduled for April - May 2013 and is curated by John Caperton, The Print Center’s Jensen Bryan Curator.

Emma Wilcox: Where it Falls
April 13 – July 28, 2012
Friday, April 13: Reception 5:30-7:30pm

PDF of Press Release

PHILADELPHIA: Where it Falls is an exhibition of new work by photographer Emma Wilcox (New York). Over the past seven years Wilcox has been writing texts using household flour and paint, in twelve-foot-high letters, on rooftops throughout Newark, NJ and photographing them via helicopter. By interjecting large-scale, text-based work into an urban environment, Wilcox examines issues of environmental justice, land usage, eminent domain and the role of individual meaning in the creation of local history. The photographic documentation of these interjections will form the core of her exhibition at The Print Center.

The series began with her own house, when she discovered she was about to lose it through the invocation of eminent domain to accommodate planned development. The rooftop texts are derived from interviews with people in affected neighborhoods, legal documents, signage (both active and defunct), and classic and modern poetry. Due to the prohibitive expense of chartering helicopter flights, Wilcox has only documented some of these actions, but remarkably she has noticed that her imagery has begun to appear on Google Earth. As it is updated, more and more of her work is documented, and has resulted in a new audience for the work. Previously, visual access to her interventions was limited primarily to her own photographs, but they are now viewable by the virtual public.

For this exhibition, Wilcox has photographed newly-made texts created on rooftops and vacant lots based on the original survey text of the City of Newark. In contrast to (and perhaps in repudiation of) the Google Earth images, Wilcox utilizes the gelatin silver print process, a chemical process now considered by many to be archaic, but here it is an ideal medium for depicting chemically tainted landscapes. The Print Center will produce an accompanying publication that will include an essay by noted author Luc Sante as well as related historical and contemporary materials. Several of Wilcox’s Forensic Landscapes, an ongoing series of street scenes of Newark, will be coupled with her aerial photographs. The scenes shows easily overlooked details of urban sites and illustrate the perseverance of these spaces despite their almost overwhelming decay and neglect.

Emma Wilcox’s most recent solo exhibitions were in 2010 at Gitterman Gallery, New York, NY and 2009 at Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT. She is the recipient of a New Jersey State Arts Council Fellowship for photography, the Camera Club of New York Residency, the Newark Museum Residency and was a core participant in Night School at the New Museum in 2008. She participated in Emerge 7, Aljira, Newark, NJ and AIM 29, Bronx Museum, Bronx, NY. She is also co-founder, with Evonne M. Davis, of Gallery Aferro, a Newark, NJ alternative space.

In conjunction with the exhibition a number of works by other artists whose work has been critical to Wilcox’s practice will be installed. These works explore many of the same themes as Wilcox’s, including the effects of urban planning, while also delving into the history of Newark back to its founding.

Where it Falls: Emma Wilcox will be on view April 13 – July 28, 2012. The opening reception is Friday, April 13 from 5:30-7:30pm, with a gallery talk by the artist at 5:30pm.

This exhibition is made possible by special project support from the Harpo Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, an anonymous donor, the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance Creative Grant Program made possible by the JPMorgan Chase Foundation and the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation as well as the generous cooperation of Gitterman Gallery, New York.

The Print Center Receives $50,000 Gift from
H.F. (Gerry) Lenfest Towards New Fund

PHILADELPHIA: The Print Center is pleased to announce the receipt of a 1-to-1 challenge grant in the amount of $50,000 from H.F. (Gerry) Lenfest towards its Stability and Opportunity Fund. Launched in 2011, the fund was established with a gift of $25,000 from Founder and President of Entrust Financial, LLC, Joslyn G. Ewart. This fund will insure financial health and long-term fiscal stability for The Print Center by providing a solid cash reserve base as well as the means to take advantage of important artistic and organizational opportunities. The Stability and Opportunity Fund is an open fund, allowing other donors to add contributions of their own, thereby increasing the working capital available to The Print Center.

In October 2011, Gerry Lenfest offered a $50,000 challenge to The Print Center’s current and past Board of Governors to be matched by December 31, 2011. The challenge energized The Print Center’s current and past Board, who quickly rose to the occasion and matched every dollar within only a few weeks. Through these generous gifts, The Print Center has now reached its goal of a fully supported, $100,000 Stability and Opportunity Fund.

Board President Hester Stinnett said, “Support such as this is major and timely. As we look towards our 100th Anniversary in 2015, this fund will provide a strong and stable financial underpinning upon which The Print Center will build a healthy and vibrant future. It heralds a future of financial stability which will allow The Print Center’s leadership to envision more ambitious programs and achievements.” Executive Director Elizabeth Spungen said, “she is inspired by the enthusiastic response offered by The Print Center’s core supporters, with gifts given by 100 percent of the Board of Governors at a level that exceeded the challenge. This exceptional support will allow The Print Center to offer a future full of excellent and compelling exhibitions and programs celebrating the printed image.”

The Print Center supports printmaking and photography as vital contemporary arts and encourages the appreciation of the printed image in all its forms. The Print Center presents a variety of programs for the public including exhibitions; The Print Center Gallery Store, which offers  the largest and most diverse selection of contemporary prints in Philadelphia; the longest running annual international competition for prints and photographs in the country; and an extensive series of education programs and special events.