Jenny Gibbs, Executive Director of the IFPDA, and David Tunick, President of the IFPDA, have announced that Caledonia Curry, known as Swoon, has been commissioned for the first site-specific installation for the IFPDA Fine Art Print Fair, October 23-27, 2019, at the Javits Center in New York City.

The 12-feet-by-24-feet mixed-media installation will combine two- and three-dimensional elements, including silk screening, wood, found objects, paper, with etching as its focal point.

Said Ms. Gibbs, "The idea to create a project with etching that would illustrate the connection between contemporary and historic printmaking practices came about in a conversation with Nadine M. Orenstein, Drue Heinz Curator in Charge of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Drawings and Prints.”

Speaking about an upcoming exhibition at The Met, The Renaissance of Etching, that Orenstein organized, she notes, “The artists who first experimented with ways of making printed etchings on paper in the first decades of the 16th century were basically using the same technique that artists use today when they create etchings. And artists then were using the same kind of expansive mindset that artists have today—how do you take a medium meant to create black lines on white paper and push the medium to express so much more. Artists were thinking creatively about that in 1510 and artists like Swoon think about it that way now. I am delighted to be speaking with Swoon at the fair.”

To continue the conversation, etchings throughout the fair will be highlighted so that visitors can explore 500 years of this important technique, and The Met will be offering a private tour and preview of The Renaissance of Etching and the annual Print Study Day at The Met.

Sarah Douglas, Editor in Chief of ARTnews, will lead a public conversation with Swoon, Nadine Orenstein, and Jenny Gibbs, discussing the commission at the IFPDA Fine Art Print Fair on Sunday, October 27

In this conversation led by Sarah Douglas, Swoon and Nadine Orenstein, who curated the upcoming exhibition The Renaissance of Etching at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, will discuss the dynamic artistic experimentation and evolution of etching from its discovery in the early 16th century to its use in contemporary artistic practice today. The Renaissance of Etching will open on October 23 at The Met Fifth Avenue and will run concurrently with the IFPDA.

“I am delighted to be speaking with Swoon at the IFPDA fair, and look forward to talking with her about the practice of etching, from its roots in the early Renaissance to her practice today,” said Orenstein.

About Swoon (Caledonia Curry)

Caledonia Curry, whose work appears under the name Swoon, is a Brooklyn-based artist who is widely known as the first woman to gain large-scale recognition in the male-dominated world of street art. Swoon took to the streets of New York while attending the Pratt Institute of Art in 1999, pasting her paper portraits to the sides of buildings with the goal of making art and the public space of the city more accessible.

In a moment when contemporary art often holds a conflicted relationship to beauty, Swoon work carries with it an earnestness, treating the beautiful as sublime even as she explores the darker sides of her subjects. Her work has become known for marrying the whimsical to the grounded, often weaving in slivers of fairy-tales, scraps of myth, and a recurring motif of the sacred feminine. Tendrils of her own family history—and a legacy of her parents’ struggles with addiction and substance abuse—recur throughout her work. Most recently, she has begun using film animation to explore the boundaries of visual storytelling. An exhibition of her animation will take place at Deitch Gallery, 76 Grand Street, NYC, opening on November 14, 2019.

While much of Swoon’s art plays with the fantastical, there is also a strong element of realism. This can be seen in her myriad social endeavors, including a long-term community revitalization project in Braddock, Pennsylvania and her efforts to build earthquake-resistant homes in Haiti through Konbit Shelter. Her non-profit, the Heliotrope Foundation, was created in order to further support these ventures.

Today, Callie’s work can be found both on the street and in museums around the world, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, the Tate Modern, and the São Paulo Museum of Art. The artist’s site-specific solo show Submerged Motherlands at the Brooklyn Museum in 2014 was the museum’s first exhibition dedicated to a living street artist. Swoon currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

About The Renaissance of Etching at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

October 23, 2019–January 20, 2020

The emergence of etching on paper in Europe in the late 15th and early 16th centuries—when the technique moved out of the workshops of armor decorators and into those of printmakers and painters—was a pivotal moment that completely changed the course of printmaking. Opening October 23, The Renaissance of Etching will trace the first 70 years of the etched print, from ca. 1490 to ca. 1560, through some 125 etchings created by both renowned and lesser-known artists. The prints will be displayed alongside a selection of drawings, printing plates, illustrated books, and armor. The works are drawn from the collections of The Met, The Albertina Museum, and a number of European and American lenders.

The exhibition is made possible by the Diane W. and James E. Burke Fund, the Placido Arango Fund, The Schiff Foundation, and Ann and Matthew Nimetz.

It is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Albertina Museum.

The catalogue is made possible by the Drue E. Heinz Fund. Additional support is provided by the Tavolozza Foundation.

About the IFPDA Fine Art Print Fair and the IFPDA Foundation

Now in its 28th year, the IFPDA Fine Art Print Fair is the longest-running and largest international art fair showcasing 500 years of printmaking. The IFPDA Fine Art Print Fair is presented by the International Fine Print Dealers Association, 160 galleries and publishers in 13 countries who champion printmaking, scholarship and connoisseurship. Proceeds from the IFPDA Fine Art Print Fair benefit the IFPDA Foundation, which awards curatorial, exhibition and artists grants in the field of printmaking and scholarship.

About IFPDA Print Week

IFPDA Print Week celebrates 500 years of printmaking with the IFPDA Fine Art Print Fair as the centerpiece alongside cultural partners including the Brooklyn Museum, MoMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and The New York Satellite Print Fair. Public programs include exhibitions and tours, gallery talks, printmaking demonstrations and workshops, and panel discussions.

October 23 - 27, 2019

River Pavilion, Javits Center, 11th Avenue at 35th Street, New York

Wednesday, October 23: 5pm - 9pm Opening Night Reception benefiting the IFPDA Foundation

Thursday, October 24: 12pm - 7pm | 7pm - 9pm Young Collectors Cocktails

Friday, October 25: 12pm - 8pm

Saturday, October 26: 12pm - 8pm

Sunday, October 27: 12pm - 5pm

https://www.ifpda.org/

@ifpda

Media contacts:

Sharp Communications, New York

Magda Grigorian, magda.grigorian@sharpthink.com

Lauren Cody, lauren.cody@sharpthink.com