David Rathman

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“Team Gorman” and “Miller Trucking”

David Rathman returned to Highpoint Editions during summer 2011 and finished up work on a spectacular large-scale diptych of a demolition derby car and truck. The images are lithographs in black and are hand water-colored by the artist. Both vehicles are tiled into multiple prints, emphasizing their quirky, deconstructed/ reconstructed quality and the scale reflects the physicality of their subjects. A variant edition of seven unique diptychs has been produced and will be released this Fall 2011. The car and truck are available separately, or as a set.

Those familiar with Highpoint Editions will remember Rathman’s Five New Etchings (sold out) from 2002; a suite of intaglio prints featuring Western scenes and darkly humorous bits of text. More recent prints created in 2009 at HP include etchings: “It seldom matters, the words you say” and “The way we get by.” A limited number of these prints are still available; contact HP for current availability and pricing.

“It seldom matters, the words you say” and “The way we get by”

David Rathman returned to Highpoint’s printshop in June 2009. Those familiar with Highpoint Editions will remember his Five New Etchings from 2005, a suite of intaglio prints featuring Western scenes and darkly humorous bits of text. One of his new prints is a muted spit bite etching that revisits this Western imagery. In it, two cowboys move through an austere landscape with the phrase “It seldom matters, the words you say” hovering in the space above them. A second etching combines spit bite, scraping, burnishing, roulette and drypoint in a gritty image of two battered cars stacked in a junk yard; floating above the cars is the phrase “The way we get by”. Rathman is also currently at work on a large-scale diptych of demolition derby cars. Both vehicles will be tiled into multiple prints, emphasizing their quirky, reconstructed quality.

David Rathman & Cole Rogers curating “Butterfly Mornings, Wildflower Afternoons”

Five New Etchings 2002

The first edition published by Highpoint Center: a suite of five intaglio prints by David Rathman, printed by Master Printer Cole Rogers. The Minneapolis-based artist brought a touch of the West to Highpoint with his one-man show, Five New Etchings. Rathman’s work features silhouetted scenes from the “Old West”, but are given a dark twist by the grim humor of written observations which float above the horizon. A wide range of intaglio techniques were used, including sugarlift, spitbite, aquatint, scraping, burnishing and found drypoint; the copper plates used in the final prints “were kicking around in the trunk of my car for over a year” noted artist David Rathman.

This suite of five prints is no longer available for purchase through Highpoint.