June 13, 2003 – June 11, 2004
OKTP: From the Studio of Paulson Press
500 12th Street, lobby.
Viewing Hours: Monday - Friday 7am - 7pm.
This exhibit is a collaboration between the Oakland Museum of California and Shorenstein Realty Services.
Open and free to the public. BART, AC Transit and Wheelchair accessible.

Presented by the Oakland Museum of California Professional Services division

Professional Services Exhibition Archive

The Oakland Museum of California is delighted to present OKTP*: From the Studio of Paulson Press. Featuring the intaglio prints of Ross Bleckner and James Brown, this exhibition celebrates Paulson Press’ singular place in the Bay Area arts community.

About Paulson Press
A decade ago, Paulson Press was founded by Pam Paulson in a tiny Emeryville studio. Working with only a small hand-cranked press and a hot plate for rolling grounds, Paulson established her business by printing editions for local artists. Within a few short years, the business expanded to publishing and Paulson formed a partnership with fellow printer Renee Bott. Three years later, they moved the operation into a spacious studio in West Berkeley. The studio’s first publication (a series of four-color etchings by San Francisco artist Christopher Brown) was launched in January of 1997. Paulson Press has since published over forty projects.

Since its inception, the circle of printmakers with whom Paulson Press works has widened to include not only Bay Area talent but also nationally and internationally renowned artists. Their ability to attract exceptional artists is due in large part to their unique approach. Bott explains, “We facilitate rather than collaborate with any artist, creating an environment where the artists can do their best work. We make our studio their studio. We let them set the tone. We encourage them to make work in our studio as a continuation of their current efforts and not merely a repetition of existing work.”

*OK To Print: Artists’ notation used at Paulson Press in the printmaking process to indicate that the final proof is ready for production.

About The Artists

Ross Bleckner

Ross Bleckner Bonds & Proteins, 1999 Color spitbite aquatint 40" x 45" Edition of 50

In 1999, New York artist Ross Bleckner was invited to Paulson Press to make his first etching editions. Widely known for his luminous abstractions, Bleckner’s project at Paulson marked an opportunity for him to discover new directions for his formal concerns of art making.

The tactile nature of intaglio enabled Bleckner to further his ongoing experimentations with surface and physicality. For his editions, he incorporated an inventive treatment that involved applying quick bursts from an airbrush to blow away the dry aquatint powder or to apply an acid-resist directly onto the copper plates. Bleckner applied this unusual technique to reexamine one of his recurrent subjects: the quality of light and the ambiguity of its sources. In all his prints, light serves not only as an effect, but also as a reflection of life processes and the universe as observed through science and the natural world.

Ross Bleckner has exhibited in museums throughout the world, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and the Berkeley Art Museum. Blecker was one of the first artists to join the Mary Boone Gallery, where he is represented today.

James Brown

James Brown, Demand of Life, 2000, Color aquatint etching with chine colle book pages, 30.5" x 45", edition 15

During his first project at Paulson Press in 2000, James Brown completed 19 prints based on a short novel by D.H. Lawrence entitled The Man Who Died. The study does not present a cohesive visual description of the book’s narrative, but rather reveals the artist’s unique approach to developing a series around specific ideas that are unified by formal elements, such as materials, composition and marks.

This body of work represents Brown’s ongoing study of internal order. Additionally, the energetic prints track Brown’s creative process, an intuitive approach based on the artist’s own experiences with images and materials. His varied sources and inspirations, from observations of science to romantic translations, serve as the foundation for his unique vision.

James Brown has exhibited at many public institutions and private galleries in the United States and Europe, including Galerie Lelong, Paris; Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco; Leo Castelli Gallery, New York; and Galerie Bernd Kluser, Munich.

About Intaglio Printmaking
Paulson Press specializes in intaglio printmaking, a method of printing that uses metal plates as a matrix to transfer ink to paper. In this process, an image or picture is cut into the surface of the plate. Inks are then pushed into the grooves, and the surface is wiped clean, leaving the ink within the recessed areas. Dampened paper is placed on top of the plate, and both are run through a press. As the paper and plate are fed through the press, the extreme pressure forces the paper down into the etched areas of the plate, integrating the ink with the paper.

Intaglio was first practiced in the 1400s, yet modern application of the art form lends itself to a variety of techniques – etching, engraving, drypoint, aquatint, mezzotint and gravure.