Rico Gatson: Power Portraits

Rico Gatson, Nikki G, 2019, colored pencil and photo-collage on paper, 22" x 30". Courtesy of the artist and the Ronald Feldman Gallery

Highpoint Editions Artist Rico Gatson is featured at The Art Gallery at Delaware County Community College for their Spring semester contemporary exhibition. “Rico Gatson: Power Portraits features twelve collages from Gatson’s Icon series, as well as two paintings and the film Four Stations. Incorporating stylistic strategies from abstraction, Op Art, and the Bauhaus, Gatson’s wide-ranging art historical and cultural references combine to produce multilayered portraits of contemporary black heroes. “ - dccc.edu

On View: March 4–April 10

Find more information here….

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Tales from the Co-op: Matt Kunes

Colorado’s Lost Grizzly, screenprint

After studying graphic design at UW-Stout, I moved to Minneapolis and constructed a barebones screenprinting studio in a laundry room. The space was tiny, but it was everything an aspiring artist needed to create screenprinted shirts, posters, and art. I named this humble space Motelprint Studios. After fifteen years of screenprinting next to a washer and dryer, I felt it was time to leave the restricted space of the laundry studio and find a new studio to call home. Enthusiastically, I found the Highpoint community. 

My work often references animals and nature. I enjoy the varying abstract relationships I can create within the drawing using line, engaging color schemes, negative space, and scale. Although much of my design aesthetic was influenced at a young age obsessing over 1990’s cutting-edge skateboard designs, the experience that most shaped my current aesthetic was exploring graphic design and screen printing techniques during my time abroad in college. While in Germany, I discovered that my art relied on graphic design elements. By blending the two methods, I have achieved a visual connection to the subject matter. By arranging each element purposefully, I breathe new life into my subjects through vibrant, alluring color arrangements and charismatic contour lines. 

What I found at Highpoint is professional equipment and a staff that offers an extraordinary studio experience for printmakers. Also, it is wonderful to be surrounded by inspiring artists of all ages and backgrounds. These factors have contributed to a resurgence of productivity. I am looking forward to all the new enjoyable art arrangements and prints to come generated at Highpoint Center for Printmaking.