ARTS . Art

In Stark Relief

Woodblock Prints


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Published: Feb 6, 2007

Woodmere Art Museum's "Emerging Artists Series " is a rare chance for up-and-comers to show their stuff to wider audiences. Christopher Hartshorne, one of this year's honorees, has made impressive use of the opportunity. His woodblock prints possess a fluid, painterly quality that defies the stiffness of the medium. Hartshorne's primary subject is the human figure. Carefully chiseled faces give way to bold lines, abstract forms and imagery that call to mind the action stills of a graphic novel.

(CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

In one (Untitled, 2006), a man in a tense, contemplative pose is visited by a hummingbird and an octopus, while a blank speech bubble looms above him like a question mark. It's comical, but the darker undertones are hard to miss. In contrast to the man's tense and silent pose, the animals are almost caricatures of movement. They seem to be telling him something, but he remains frozen in indecision.

"I chose to work in relief printing because I am in love with the process," says Hartshorne. The physical, tactile activity of carving is, he says, a rebellion against the impersonal technology and mass production of our time.

Hartshorne's work is arranged chronologically over a five-year period, allowing the viewer to see his artistic development firsthand. The quality improves dramatically with time. You can see Hartshorne mastering his medium as the prints become larger, the line quality more varied and the use of text replaced by more expressive visual content. Yet throughout the stylistic changes, certain themes remain intact. For instance, a small, illustrative rendition of dinosaurs from 2001 (Dino Greetings) is later complemented by an all-out man vs. dinosaur battle, humorously titled Interruption.

"Some people see woodcuts as an ancient or 'dead' art. I want to keep woodcuts alive. There's a lot of potential in a piece of wood."

"Emerging Artists Series: Christopher Hartshorne and Hiro Sakaguchi," through March 4, free, Woodmere Art Museum, 9201 Germantown Ave., 215-247-0476, www.woodmereartmuseum.org.