Hard and Soft: Works from the Gottesman Etching Center

In essence, printmaking generates images that are based on transference: transference from one surface to another. In fact, one of the first creative activities with which children experiment is printing, when they dip their hands in paint and leave their imprint on paper. Over the years, the art of printmaking has become more sophisticated, and the prints on view attest to the wealth of possibilities inherent in the field.

The works in the exhibition can be misleading. They are delicate in appearance and sensitive to the touch, but their production involved hard and complex physical and technical work. Each of these works originated in a stiff metal plate, and ended with soft, flexible paper. Observing the works, one does not easily feel the intensity of the incision in the metal plate. The smells of the acid and pigment, and the force exerted by the press are undiscernible, and all one experiences is the softness of the paper that has absorbed the pigment. This mysterious interplay between softness and rigidity distinguishes the art of printmaking, lending it the quality of a miracle, the charm of an artwork that appears spontaneous or random despite being the result of meticulous craftsmanship. Printmaking is a choreography of yielding and resistance: pressing and releasing, exerting force and letting go.

The exhibition features a selection of prints created by leading artists at the Gottesman Etching Center. Established in 1993 in Kibbutz Cabri, the Center has since attracted numerous artists to the country’s north, where they come together to perform the dance of print, a dance of hard and soft.

* All works in the exhibition are courtesy of the Gottesman Etching Center, Kibbutz Cabri