Kiki Smith
This print depicts a homeless person’s feet extending from a cardboard box. Working from a photograph, Smith began by drawing an image onto a copperplate, then adding tone and color. She envisioned an iridescent effect at the bottom of the image, like “rainbows [in] oil slicks,” but deemed the first attempt unsatisfactory (see slideshow, above). The printer suggested flipping the copperplate over and printing the random, etched pits that appeared on the back, which produced the effect in the final print that Smith was after (see banner, above).
Kiki Smith working with a source photograph on Home at Crown Point Press, 2006, photograph by Kathan Brown, Courtesy Crown Point Press
Banner image: Detail, Mamma Andersson, Room Under the Influence, 2008, color spitbite aquatint, sugarlift aquatint, aquatint, and softground etching, Gift of Kathan Brown, Crown Point Press, © Mamma Andersson
"Yes, No, Maybe: The Art of Making
Decisions," lecture by exhibition curators Judith Brodie and Adam Greenhalgh (audio)
Julie Mehretu, artist, in conversation with curator Judith Brodie, Diamonstein-Spielvogel lecture (audio)
"An Insider's Perspective," lecture by Kathan Brown, founder of Crown Point Press (audio)
Exhibition tour by curators Judith Brodie and Adam Greenhalgh (audio)