Analía Saban: Recent Prints March 26 – May 21, 2022
Saban is known for reconfiguring traditional notions of painting and printmaking, often using the actual material as the subject of the work itself. Her work plays with art historical references and traditions of techniques and technology, creating experimental and witty dialogues between the mediums and processes she is working on. The artist’s fascination with line work is evident in her Circuit Boards and Transcending Grids, her most recently produced series of prints. These etchings reference different systems of fabrication and artistic mediums. In the Circuit Boards etchings, Saban integrates computer-designed lines with others created with a handheld Dremel (an electronic rotary tool.) The system of lines inter-twine creating switchboard imagery across the page, their contrasting definition and loose and hard-edged marks bringing an energized synergy to the prints. The Transcending Grids combine printmaking with painting, a series of eight prints where the artist incorporates linen squares on the paper with the use of chine collé. She simultaneously applies inked colored lines (black, white, red, yellow, and blue) to create loosely lined grids, their fringes contrasting with the rigid marks of the deeply etched copper plate they were printed on. These prints are reflections of the artist’s preoccupation with traditional approaches to color, texture, and mark-making. Other works included in the show delve into Saban’s conceptual investigations of printmaking as a medium. This One series, created in 2020, comprises of three etchings that illustrate different sized stacks of paper. One pile presents a full edition of 25 sheets, the second shows an edition of 50 and the third image is a stack of 100 prints. Each of the stacks also includes extra impressions that accompany the numbered edition, such as the AP (artist proof) and SP (special proof.) A self-referential arrow rendered in red ink indicates exactly which sheet of paper in the image corresponds to the signed and numbered impression of the print. These prints are a clever and witty reflection about the nature of printmaking and the traditional distribution of the physical edition. Generations of a certain age will instantly recognize another print executed in the same year as the This One etchings. The title and composition of Pong is a direct reference to the early Atari computer game released in 1972, the first and arguably the most historically significant video game ever produced.
The black and white abstract print echoes the visual economy of the game, the lines and dot of the “ball” that bounces across the screen. The markings are evocative of early Minimalist paintings with their reductive geometric forms presented serially against a neutral background. Unlike Minimalism, however, which rejects a narrative, Pong is a direct visual reference to a video game and a cultural moment in history. Other prints in the exhibition disrupt standard printmaking practices and at the same time manage to re-invigorate the medium which is long steeped in technical traditions. Pressed Paint sheds light on the essential definitions of painting, sculpture, and printmaking. Saban crafted a pillowcase-like sack of unprimed linen and filled it with one half-gallon of acrylic paint. The filled bag was then squeezed through the printing press just far enough so that the thick layer of paint spilled out of the open side. Mounted on the wall, this work seems frozen in time, with streaks of color saturating the fabric in a cascading pattern, while the paint peering out of the bottom of the bag reveals the evidence of the process. This printed edition is both a sculpture and a painting that draws attention to the inside of the object, not just the surface. Because of the nature of the process, variations occur, and no two prints from this series are exactly the same. The same holds true with the Pressed Paint works, a series where stencils in the various shapes of pitchers were filled with ink and the surface was allowed to partially dry. The print was then run through the printing press, forcing the wet under-layers of dark blue color smear out and across the paper in different configurations. The hand of the artist is removed in this final process, allowing for the printing machine to take over, hence the unpredictable result. Some of the imagery resemble clouds or puddles, while others seem like shadows or even contours of landscapes. Saban was born in Buenos Aires and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. She received her BFA from Loyola University in New Orleans, followed by an MFA from University of California in Los Angeles. Her works are represented in multiple public and private collections including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles; the Houston Museum of Fine Arts; the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
Pitcher #2 (Spilled Interior),2017 Stenciled ink monoprint 22 x 30 inches
Pitcher #3 (Spilled Interior), 2017 Stenciled ink monoprint 22 x 30 inches
Pitcher #4 (Spilled Interior), 2017 Stenciled ink monoprint 22 x 30 inches
Pitcher #5 (Spilled Interior), 2017 Stenciled ink monoprint 22 x 30 inches
Pressed Paint (Middle Gray), 2017 Acrylic paint pressed in linen 34 x 27 inches
This One (Edition of 25), 2020 1-color etching with color pencil 36 7/8 x 28 1/4 inches Edition of 25
This One (Edition of 50), 2020 1-color etching with color pencil 36 7/8 x 28 1/4 inches Edition of 50
This One (Edition of 100), 2020 1-color etching with color pencil 36 7/8 x 28 1/4 inches Edition of 100
Circuit Board #2, 2021 2-color aquatint etching with hardground and drypoint 39 3/4 x 30 3/4 inches Edition of 32
Circuit Board #4, 2021 2-color aquatint etching with hardground and drypoint 39 3/4 x 30 3/4 inches Edition of 32
Circuit Board #5, 2021 2-color aquatint etching with hardground and drypoint 39 3/4 x 30 3/4 inches Edition of 32
Tr a n s c e n d i n g G r i d , B l a c k , 2 0 2 1 1-color softground etching with linen chine collé 17 1/2 x 16 5/8 inches Edition of 28
Tr a n s c e n d i n g G r i d , W h i t e , 2 0 2 1 1-color softground etching with linen chine collé 17 1/2 x 16 5/8 inches Edition of 28
Tr a n s c e n d i n g G r i d , R e d , 2 0 2 1 1-color softground etching with linen chine collé 17 1/2 x 16 5/8 inches Edition of 28
Tr a n s c e n d i n g G r i d , Ye l l o w , 2 0 2 1 1-color softground etching with linen chine collé 17 1/2 x 16 5/8 inches Edition of 28
Tr a n s c e n d i n g G r i d , B l u e , 2 0 2 1 1-color softground etching with linen chine collé 17 1/2 x 16 5/8 inches Edition of 28
Pong, 2020 1-color etching 20 1/4 x 30 3/4 inches
ANALÍA SABAN (b. 1980)
EDUCATION 2005 M.F.A. University of California, Los Angeles 2001 B.F.A. Loyola University, New Orleans 2015-16 Getty Research Institute Artist in Residency, Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA SELECTED EXHIBITIONS SOLO 2021 Analía Saban: Recent Prints, Heather Gaudio Fine Art Projects, New Canaan, CT 2020 Point to Line to Object to Stack, Gemini G.E.L. at Joni Moisant Weyl, New York, NY; Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles, CA 2019 FOCUS: Analía Saban, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX Particle Theory, Arario Gallery, Seoul, Korea Dry Clean Only, Mixografia, Los Angeles, CA 2018 Punched Card, Tanya Bondakar Gallery, New York, NY 2017 Canvas on Paint, Qiao Space, Shanghai, China Pigmente, Galerie Sprüth Magers, Berlin, Germany Folds and Faults, Galerie Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles, CA The Warp and Woof of Paining, Galerie Praz-Delavallade, Paris, France Where We Start From, Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles, CA 2016 Analía Saban, Blaffer Art Museum, Houston, TX Paper or Plastic, Mixografia, Los Angeles, CA Analía Saban is Broken, Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles, CA 2015 Interiors, Galerie Sprüth Magers, London, UK Backyard, Tanya Bondakar Gallery, New York, NY 2014 Outburst, Galerie Praz-Delavallade, Paris, France 2013 Bathroom Sink, Etc, Galerie Sprüth Magers, Berlin, Germany Datum, Josh Lilley Gallery, London, UK 2012 Gag, Tanya Bondakar Gallery, New York, NY 2011 Derrames, Galeria 11x7, Buenos Aires, Argentina Dig, Galerie Praz-Delavallade, Paris, France Grayscale, Thomas Solomon Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2010 Information Leaks, Josh Lilley Gallery, London, UK 2009 Light Breaks Out of Prism, Thomas Solomon Gallery, Los Angeles, ca Living Color, Galerie Praz-Delavallade, Paris, France 2007 When Things Collapse, Galerie Praz-Delavallade, Paris, France Wet Paintings in the Womb, Galerie Sprüth Magers, Munich, Germany 2005 Bit by Bit, Kim Light Gallery/Lightbox, Los Angeles, CA GROUP 2020 45 at 45 – L.A. Louver Celebrates 45 Years with 45 Artists, L.A. Louver, Venice, CA Restless Index, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, Los Angeles Ground/work, The Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA The Return of the Real, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, NY Songs in the Dark, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, NY
2019 Nowhere Better than This Place, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA Artists Use Photography, Galerie Praz-Delavallade, Los Angeles, CA LOCAL: Gemini G.E.L. Collaborations with Los Angeles Artists, Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles, CA Dirty Protest: Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Collection, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA 2018 Topologies, The Warehouse, Dallas, TX The Way Things Run (Der Lauf Der Dinge) Part III: Wage, PS120, Berlin, Germany She Sees the Shadows, DRAF x MOSTYN, Llandudno, Wales 2017 NGV Triennial, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia Concrete Island, Venus, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA Unpacking: The Marciano Collection, The Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles, CA 2016 Progressive Praxis, de la Cruz Collection, Miami, FL L.A. Exuberance, LACMA Museum, Los Angeles, CA Return to that Particular Moment, 601 Artspace, New York, NY 2015 You’ve Got to Know the Rules… to Break Them, de la Cruz Collection, Miami, FL Picture the Cricket’s Legs Apart, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, IL Free Admission, Galerie Praz-Delavallade, Paris, France Back to the Real, David B. Smith Gallery, Denver, CO Theories on Forgetting, Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA Vibrant Matter, KIOSK, Gent, Belgium 2014 Here There Be Tygers, Gallery Lara Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan Propect.3 New Orleans, Contemporary Artss Center, New Orleans, LA An Appetite for Painting, National Museum of Norway, Oslo, Norway Next, Arsenal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Some Artists’ Artists, Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, NY Between the Lines, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, NY 2013 Objective, Thomas Solomon Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Le Club des Sou L’Eau, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France La Révolte et l’Ennui, FRAC Auvergne, France Alchemy, The Arts Club, London, UK 4 Artistas & 11 Preguntas a Marta Minujín, Galeria 11x7, Buenos Aires, Argentina The New Now, Carter & Citizen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
SELECTED COLLECTIONS Centre Pompidou, Paris, France Hammer Museum of Art, Los Angeles Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, NY Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL
Gallery Hours Tuesday – Saturday 10:30 – 5:30 & by appointment
Front cover: This One (Edition of 25), 2020
Back cover: Circuit Board #2, 2021 (detail)