Of Clear Line and Depth: print works by JOSEPH HASKE, MARK SALTZ & LORRAINE WILLIAMS    Jun 8 - Jul 17, 2004

Tobey Fine Arts, with VanDeb Editions, presents Of Clear Line and Depth, print works by Joseph Haske, Mark Saltz, and Lorraine Williams.

It is our pleasure to present an exhibition of abstract prints by some of the most interesting contemporary painters of the day. The three artists presented are all accomplished abstract painters and this transfer of their talents to printmaking has produced marvelous results, fully capturing the essence and spirit of their larger-scaled works. These etchings and monoprints have a richness and depth not common in most modern-day prints, having lost nothing in their translation from one medium to another. Joseph Haske’s warm, atmospheric monoprints induce archetypal memories, and while depicting no explicit images, his work has often been described as having a sexual content. Mark Saltz explores the process of the discovery of the image through action, treating the printing plate as an arena to find the moment when formal resolution gives way to dissolution; a moment Mr. Saltz refers to as “constructible integrity”. Lorraine Williams evolves her painting work—evoking either a vast or microscopic cosmos—into two 22” x 30” prints using spitbite, aquatint, sugar lift and white ground to create powerful, luminous compositions.

Jospeh Haske’s solo exhibition, Entasis, exhibited at Tobey Fine Arts last year. Mark Saltz last had an one-man exhibition of paintings with the gallery in May 2003. Lorraine Williams’ third exhibition with Tobey Fine Arts, Liminal Spaces, was shown in March 2003. All three artists live and work in NYC.

We are especially pleased to organize this exhibition in collaboration with VanDeb Editions’ partners, Marjorie Van Dyke and Deborah Freedman. Ms. Van Dyke is a master printer who printed with Bob Blackburn’s Printmaking Workshop for fifteen years. VanDeb Editions was established in 1999, and publishes etchings and monoprints specifically by artists who are not at the forefront of public awareness. It is an atelier committed to producing works of originality that have genuine poignancy and intimacy of scale.

Of Clear Line and Depth opens at Tobey Fine Arts at 580 Broadway on June 8 and continues through July 17, 2004. For further information on the exhibition please call (212) 431-7878, email tobeyfinearts@msn.com or visit www.artnet.com./tobeyfinearts.html