UB Anderson Gallery, April 2008

Sam Francis: Black and White
Sam Francis (1923-1994) is known for his colorful paintings and prints exploding with splashes, drips, and organic forms.  The current exhibition at the UB Anderson Gallery focuses on his overshadowed black-and-white lithographs that are the basis for and sometimes the end product of many of his colorful prints. Lithography was the first print technique that Francis embraced in his prolific artistic career. In 1970, Francis opened the Litho Shop in Santa Monica, California. The Litho Shop was a monumental endeavor, one that showed Francis’s commitment to printmaking that few painters had at that time. A student of Zen Buddhism, Francis continuously presented his audiences with opposites like the Yin and Yang, or the black and white. Francis believed that proofing first in black would reveal the graphic impact of the image, therefore all of his color lithographs evolved from a black-inked proof.  In 1973, Francis began to create black versions of his color prints, a process that would bring his prints full circle.  In these prints, the blacks appear warm and cool through the mixing of various colors like green, brown, and purple, adding depth and separation. Francis’s lithographs transcend the media in such a way as to fool the viewer.  While they might seem spontaneous and immediate, they are actually the product of a labor-intensive process that Francis makes seem effortless. 

Joseph Norman:  Der Tiergarten Suite, 1999
UB Anderson Gallery, First Floor

For over two decades, Joseph Norman has worked to articulate through the mediums of painting and printmaking his own aesthetic response as an African American artist living in the twenty-first century. Der Tiergarten Suite consists of twenty-one lithographs created from the artist’s memory of Tiergarten Park in Berlin, Germany where he spent much of his time in the 1990s.  The lithographs focus on twisted and tangled tree trunks that mimic human form and emotion.  Norman emphasizes the varieties and differences among the trees in color, pattern and texture through black-and-white lithography. 

Der Tiergarten Suite was a generous gift of UB alumnus Joseph A. Chazan, M.D. ’60 & B.S. ’56, and his wife Helene S. Chazan in 2000.

A Selection of Graphic Works from the Collection
Selected Prints from the Permanent Collection showcases American artists Sam Francis, Mark Tobey, James Brooks, Claire Falkenstein, Shiro Ikegawa, Joan Mitchell, John Hultberg, Elaine Breiger, and Bruce Lowney; Mexican artist Francisco Toledo; Spanish artist Antoni Tapies; and Dutch artist Karel Appel.  The thirty prints featured in this exhibition span the 1960s and 70s and represent the UB Anderson Gallery’s commitment to contemporary art.