TELEPHONE EXHIBITION: THE UNITY OF OPPOSITES

Jennifer Gover, e Negative, 2016, screenprint,
26 x 35″. Courtesy of the artist.

Artists from Zea Mays Printmaking of Florence, MA and Peregrine Press of Portland, ME have embarked on an ambitious project that integrates printmaking methods with contemporary social media. Titled Telephone Exhibition, the endeavor is the culmination of five months of collaborative work among 75 printmakers, each of whom responded to another participant’s image. Telephone Exhibition is inspired by the childhood game where a saying is whispered from person to person, only to discover how the initial statement is dramatically altered at the game’s conclusion.

The prints in the show range in size and technique, incorporating traditional works on paper alongside artist books, altered fabrics, and origami-like pieces. The 75 prints are displayed in a timeline format and afterward will be featured on Instagram, so the public can respond. 

In the spirit of the cooperative nature of printmaking, where artists often share specialized equipment, Telephone Exhibition promotes the exchange of visual themes. Sally Clegg’s etching Riddle, the first prompt in the chronology, is scattered with disparate items and animals such as a manatee, a cup, and a rose that levitate in a cosmic setting edged by a rainbow.

The replying piece, Annie Bissett’s After the Storm, responds with a similar atmospheric effect that includes an antiquarian rendering of birds gliding over a gradient background appropriated from Clegg’s Riddle.

Soozie Large’s Rhaphidoxoum Acuferum, etc., created halfway through the project, embraces the avian imagery that resurfaces throughout Telephone Exhibition. Large’s monotype presents a single, delicate egg cradled inside a protective nest of bramble vines. Sheryl Jaffe’s Bramble Escape is directly influenced by Large’s conception; Jaffe created a three-dimensional handmade paper box adorned with a spindly branch patterning. Bramble Escape’s box is empty of its contents, imparting the impression of weightlessness—yet another ubiquitous motif evident in the exhibit.

Telephone Exhibition not only examines the aesthetic dialogue between printmakers, but the organizers state it aims to, “expose real world issues about communication and interpretation in our contemporary culture.” Telephone Exhibition’s Instagram debut asks artists to look past social media’s parade of advertisements and to seek inspiration in these accessible resources. This diverse array of images promises to amaze viewers and artists alike.