For Curtis Jones, a professor of printmaking at the University of Oklahoma, the [Un]bound exhibition opening Friday at [Artspace] at Untitled represents his big chance to share his passion for 3-D printmaking with Oklahoma City. Because the art form rarely is seen outside “bigger cities,” he said locals may misunderstand it — provided they’re even aware of it.
Perhaps that confusion is because when people hear the term “3-D” these days, they automatically assume it means strapping on bulky, uncomfortable glasses to watch robots duke it out on the big screen.
Jones wants to change that perception for the better.
“In this case, 3-D just means that it’s not going to be flat prints on a wall,” said Jones, who curated the exhibition. “The artists all use the printing process to create material to use basically as an installation or a projection. It starts as print and evolves into something beyond that. It’ll look more like installation art, more like a sculpture.”
[Un]bound: 3D Printmaking reflects a lifelong love for Jones, who has been involved in the medium for “a little more than a decade or so,” evolving into more complex works over the years.
“For me, it was just kind of studying book arts and playing around with paper, just as much as making images on paper and ending up with basically an in-line product that wasn’t anything I could frame,” he said. “It had more of a tactile quality to it, and then you’re trying to figure out how to display it, how to show it, and how to make something out of it that shows more of the physical dynamics of what you’ve created.”
Originally approached by [Artspace] at Untitled two years ago, he kept close tabs on artists who were creating similar installations and has put many of them into the show, including:
• Laura Berman of Kansas City, Mo.;
• Tim Dooley and Aaron Wilson of Cedar Falls, Iowa;
• John Hitchcock of Madison, Wis.;
• Emily Arthur Douglas of Atlantic Beach, Fla.; and
• Jenny Schmid of Minneapolis.
Of the six, Jones is most excited to showcase the collaborative work of Dooley and Wilson.
“It’s
something I’ve never seen around here,” he said. “They’re two American
screen printers I admire incredibly. I really love their work. They’re
really versatile; they’re technically incredible, with very strong
senses of humor. Very smart, very intelligent, culturally engaged
works.”
Jones said he’s more than honored to be able to present, possibly for the first time, [Un]bound’s participating artists to the Oklahoma art scene.
“I
think it’s unique in that it shows the dynamic of where printmaking is
going in a way that not too many shows I’ve seen around here have done,”
he said. “I’ve shown my work, but beyond that … it’ll be unique and
feature some fresh faces to people who like to get out and enjoy local
art that they wouldn’t see otherwise.”
This article appears in Jun 5-11, 2013.