By Julia Meszaros | Challenged by unfavorable political conditions during their decades-long search for an innovative visual language, Hungarian artists defied printmaking traditions as they exploited newfound technologies. They ultimately succeeded in redefining printmaking as an evolving art form open to multimedia interventions. The presented chronology encompasses several pivotal periods of innovative experimentation—screen printing in the 1970s, the Xerox photocopier in the 1980s, electrographics in the 1990s—and examines generational shifts reflected in artists’ attitudes towards societal norms, self-identity, the human psyche, globalization effects and mass culture. [5,852 words] 

By Ana Vivoda | I have always seen my conversations with the space in which I exist as fragments capable of reflecting all permanent changes—transformations that occur throughout the surrounding landscape as well as within my internal world. The presented project entitled Traces explores the parallels between the physical environment, the printing plate and my inner landscapes. These unstable surfaces bear traces of intentional activities along with accidental results that take place in a continuous motion. [1,412 words] Read more

By Eva Trojanova | Vladimir Gazovic constructs fantastic realms to elucidate our understanding of the real world. The seemingly unreal visuals of phantasmal imagery and unsavory figures manifest from the artist’s astute observation of life. Through his stunning color lithographs embellished with a kaleidoscope of colors, Gazovic delivers a sharp taste of humanity seasoned with irony, sarcasm, hyperbole and ridicule. This Slovak artist’s efforts to reveal the truth have yielded a unique body of work—one that exhibits intense emotional character and transcends conventional fantasy art. [5,322 words]  Read more

By Katerina Kyselica | Dreams may seem like a mirage. For Slovak artist Kamila Stanclova, who works in painting, printmaking and drawing, dreaming is almost like breathing. I was invited to peek into Ms. Stanclova’s intimate world of art making that turned out to be as expansive as her imagination. The studio occupying the entire top floor of her and her husband Dusan Kallay’s family home in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, was bathed in the abundance of soft daylight. The realms of literature and visual arts interlace in the practice of Ms. Slanclova, who was trained as a printmaker and book illustrator. Her command of printmaking is breathtaking, as if she were born to make prints. [2,811 words] Read more

By Barbora Kundracikova | Deciphering the visual signs of an image may seem like reading a text, as both depend on identification of significance and adoption of lexicography. Yet reading an image does not suffice as a strategy for interpreting its meaning. Unlike words, the visual components of artistic media are inherently open-ended. Printmaking presents a unique case for engaging such intuition since the print testifies for the procedural friction between the artist’s subjective expression and oft-rigorous technical realization. [3,047 words] Read more