UF Gallery printmaking exhibit explores partnership of word and image

November 16, 2007

GAINESVILLE — The attraction of the verbal and visual in contemporary art will be explored in “Word and Image,” a small but comprehensive exhibit of selected works Nov. 20 at the College of Fine Arts University Gallery at the University of Florida.

The printmaking exhibition is created from the collection of the Collaborative Workshop at the University of South Florida, Graphicstudio. In prints, books and sculptures created over the past 30 years at the studio, artists and their collaborators have tested the capabilities and limits of words and images as partners in vibrant aesthetic dialogues.

Recognized for its collaborative work with international artists since 1968, Graphicstudio has brought participation in important contemporary art discourse to Florida. World-renowned artists come to the facility to work with master printers and create limited editions of artworks that are based in the concept of printmaking, but often cross into other media. Sculpture is sometimes created in series, or books, or numerous other forms.

Included in the exhibition are works by Arakawa, Abel Barroso, Waltercio Caldas, Georg Baselitz and Robert Creeley, Abraão Batista, William S. Burroughs and David Bradshaw, Lesley Dill, Beverly Pepper and Jorie Graham, Robert Rauschenberg, Edward Ruscha, Kiki Smith and Parmenides, Pat Steir and John Yau, Keith Sonnier, and John Scott.

The exhibition offers an opportunity for viewers to explore verbal language in both narrative and visual modes of inquiry. The range of artists included in this exhibition is remarkable, and the works speak to an inclusive scope of people in the University environment.

A reception with food, beverages and music will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. on Jan. 11. The event is free and open to the public.

“Word and Image,” is organized by the USF Institute for Research in Art/Graphicstudio and the University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, and curated by Peter Foe and Noel Smith. The College of Fine Arts School of Art and Art History has partnered with the UF College of Journalism and Communications to present the exhibit.

Parking is available in reserved spaces behind Fine Arts Building C off Inner Road. Visitor permits are issued to visitors at the University Gallery, Fine Arts Building B. For more information contact Amy Vigilante or Yue Zhang at 352-392-0201 ext. 229, or visit www.arts.ufl.edu/galleries.