INK! Mark-making

Selections from the Orlando Museum of Art Collection of Contemporary Graphics

Beginning in the 1960s, a revolution occurred in the world of fine art printmaking. A new generation of visionary master printers such as Tatyana Grosman, June Wayne, Ken Tyler, and Donald Saff saw that printmaking could become a major field of practice for contemporary artists. They founded printmaking studios with an array of the best production equipment and more importantly recruited skilled and talented printmakers. With these resources they attracted the top artists of the day and produced work that met the need of these artists for groundbreaking innovation. Today there are prominent fine art presses throughout the country, including the University of Central Florida’s Flying Horse Editions, and printmaking is a significant part of many artists’ oeuvres. As can be seen in the works here, contemporary fine art printmaking has attained the creative achievement and visual impact equal to any artistic medium. The works in this selection are characterized by the exploration of the artists in mark-making. What may appear at first glance as a scratch, a scribble, a stamp over the paper surface are often the result of a calculated, rhythmical, and continuous series of deliberate actions and choices from the hand of the artists.  

The Orlando Museum of Art’s collection of contemporary prints was initiated in 1975 by a group of dedicated members of the museum’s Council of 101. They began a program of leasing prints in the collection to businesses in Central Florida, then using the lease fees to purchase new works. The Corporate Lease Program has currently added over 470 works to the museum’s collection and continues to serve as an outreach that makes fine art available in public spaces throughout the metro area.