Starting tomorrow, Philadelphia will turn into a venerable mecca for all things print, thanks to the inaugural triennial of Philagrafika. Philagrafika is a citywide festival that will exhibit and bolster the profile of contemporary printmaking practices of over 300 artists from across the globe in 88 venues right here in Philadelphia.
The festival runs through April 11 and at its crux is The Graphic Unconscious, the main exhibition hosted by Moore College of Art & Design, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Print Center, and Temple Gallery at Tyler School of Art.
In addition to The Graphic Unconscious, Philagrafika also encompasses Independent Projects, involving 78 other cultural hubs in the city, and Out of Print, a historical take on printmaking at five separate Philadelphia institutions.
Philagrafika 2010 is the culmination of years of work between Artistic Director, José Roca and a team of curators. While the festival aims to highlight conceptual approaches to print as a whole, the deluge of work and about five years of planning have been divided between the curators at each venue to reflect their own mission and ideals. Chief Curator and Director at Moore, Lorie Mertes, who has been playing a major role in the citywide event for the past three years, said that Moore’s galleries reflect the school’s emphasis on textile and graphic design, ornamentation and patterning. A theme throughout is “the idea of the repeat found in fine art,” said Mertes.
