2024 New Editions: Judy Pfaff
Judy Pfaff, boba, 2024. Click to view.
boba continues a series of works that Judy Pfaff completed in our studio in 2017 (Morning Raga, Afternoon Raga, Evening Raga, …fortunate fish…, and …wind-deer and the honey-grass…), which layered manipulated images of Indian Kantha quilts with other visual elements. For this artwork, the background image of a swirling Kantha quilt—full of illustrated patterns of flora, koi fish, and sweeping lines reminiscent of draped textiles—was printed from a grid of twenty-eight separate intaglio plates, each inked up and printed in a different color combination, on a large sheet of Kozo paper. Poured “bubbles” of glittery art resin in cotton candy colors were then adhered to the printed image. The title, boba, refers to the popular Taiwanese drink that consists of tea with chewy tapioca pearls, or “bubbles.”
Collaborative Printmakers Jason Ruhl and Patrick Smyczek printing boba, 2023
Collaborative Printmaker Joe Freye pouring resin elements for boba, 2023
Judy Pfaff, Hoar Frost, 2024. Click to view.
The art resin appears again in Hoar Frost, albeit with far fewer colors. Pfaff combines a few different materials in this piece. First, the background imagery was printed in white ink from a large woodcut block. Black sumi ink was then hand-painted on the back of that sheet, illuminating the imagery that evokes stark winter plant life being whipped around in the wind and creating the drips that appear at the bottom of the piece. In front of that sheet of paper hangs a layer of white tarlatan (starched cheesecloth) that has been screen printed with additional marks to complete the imagery of this frozen scene. Finally, a section of resin is adhered on top of the artwork’s right half. This glittery clear resin was first poured over an image of reeds or grasses that had been inkjet printed on mylar. After the resin set, it was pulled off the mylar, carrying the inkjet image with it. These various layers give a wonderful sense of space to this artwork. The image feels airy and yet crystallized, frozen in a cold wind. The title, Hoar Frost, perfectly captures the feeling of the piece.
Collaborative Printmaker Patrick Smyczek screen printing on tarlatan for Hoar Frost, 2024
Judy Pfaff, yasai o tabete kudasai, 2024. Click to view.
As boba and Hoar Frost have already demonstrated, Pfaff often combines unexpected materials in her prints. A hallmark of her approach to creating two-dimensional work is that she frequently layers multiple sheets of paper over each other and engages both sides of the sheets. yasai o tabete kudasai continues to showcase Pfaff’s imaginative use of several printmaking techniques. It is comprised of two sheets of paper. First, the line drawing of the vegetable images was printed from a large intaglio plate on Kozo paper. The many swatches of color illuminating the vegetable forms were then screen printed on the back of that same sheet of Kozo, and, once dry, the paper was treated with shellac to make it translucent. That sheet then hangs in front of a slightly larger backing sheet of thicker printmaking paper that was screen printed with gradients of blue, orange, and green. Judy Pfaff has many gardens throughout her property in Tivoli, NY. In one garden, she grows several Japanese vegetables, which appear in this print. The title, yasai o tabete kudasai, is Japanese for “eat your vegetables, please.”
Collaborative Printmaker Joe Freye wiping the intaglio plate for yasai o tabete kudasai, 2024
Judy Pfaff, View 1: the garden, 2024. Click to view.
Judy Pfaff, View 2: the fire, 2024. Click to view.
Judy Pfaff, View 3: weeping, 2024. Click to view.
In View 1: the garden, View 2: the fire, and View 3: weeping, Pfaff continues to engage with images of our natural environment in surprising ways. When working on these images, she discussed them in terms of three windows, each depicting a different scene outside. Although Pfaff has repeatedly avoided giving narrative meaning to her work, it is hard not to try to imagine a story when viewing these three distinct pieces together. The rich chartreuse green of View 1 and View 3 bookends the tumultuous red and black View 2. A strong sense of energy ebbs and flows throughout these three pieces as abundant life sprouts up in View 1, an ambiguous fiery event consumes View 2, and a quietness descends through the lacey patterns and drooping tree branches in View 3.
Judy Pfaff, Jawahar Circle, 2024. Click to view.
Judy Pfaff, Enter (Jaipur), 2024. Click to view.
Judy Pfaff returned to her interest in Indian culture and imagery in two new photo intaglios. She titled Jawahar Circle and Enter (Jaipur) after Jawahar Circle in Jaipur, India. It is a huge traffic circle covered in gardens that many consider Asia’s largest circular park. Patrika Gate stands on the circle, greeting people passing by or entering the park. The gate features nine pavilions situated below arched columns and pillars that feature carved and painted depictions of the city’s history. In Jawahar Circle and Enter (Jaipur), Judy Pfaff has skewed and stretched images of Indian Kantha quilts, creating beautiful swirling arched shapes reminiscent of the architectural forms of Patrika Gate.
Judy Pfaff, boutonnière 1, 2024. Click to view.
Judy Pfaff, boutonnière 4, 2024. Click to view.
Judy Pfaff, boutonnière 7, 2024. Click to view.
Judy Pfaff, boutonnière 2, 2024. Click to view.
Judy Pfaff, boutonnière 5, 2024. Click to view.
Judy Pfaff, boutonnière 8, 2024. Click to view.
Judy Pfaff, boutonnière 3, 2024. Click to view.
Judy Pfaff, boutonnière 6, 2024. Click to view.
Judy Pfaff, boutonnière 9, 2024. Click to view.
Garden-like depictions continue in Pfaff’s series of nine small pieces titled boutonnière 1-9. These pieces each offer a little vignette or close-up view of a garden parcel or cut-flower bouquet. Floral shapes overlap and are accompanied by a small grid of color samples. These pieces also feature Pfaff’s tendency to activate both sides of a sheet of paper to create a lush image. The color samples and two layers of floral imagery were printed on the front side of a sheet of Kozo paper. Once dry, the image area was treated with shellac to make the paper translucent. Then, acrylics in highlighter colors of blue, orange, green, pink, and yellow were hand-painted on the back side of the paper to highlight elements of the imagery.
Critics often cite Judy Pfaff (b. 1946, London, England) as the pioneer of installation art. Her extensive and ever-changing work incorporates painting, drawing, printmaking, and sculpture, frequently employed in sprawling installations often described as “painting in space.” Pfaff received her BFA from Washington University and MFA from Yale University. Pratt Institute has also awarded her with an Honorary Doctorate. From the beginning of her career in the 1970s, Pfaff has worked with a broad and unusual range of materials and effortlessly moves back and forth between two- and three-dimensional work. Her dynamic, exuberant, large-scale works incorporate many different media and are often site-specific. Pfaff’s temporary installations are generous expressions created for her viewers, constructed to fit in a specific environment, and then deconstructed at the end of an exhibition. Like her installations, Pfaff’s prints have a three-dimensional presence and flowing quality, with layered circles, lines, and organic shapes echoing throughout the images. To unite the overall compositions, Pfaff often completes her prints by adding hand-applied paint, fabric dye, and layers of collaged elements. Among many other awards and accolades, Pfaff received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Sculpture Center (2014), a MacArthur Fellowship (2004), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (1983). Her work has been included in three Whitney Biennial exhibitions, and she represented the United States in the 1988 São Paulo Biennial. Her works are included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Detroit Institute of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Tate Gallery, among others. Judy Pfaff lives and works in Tivoli, New York, and teaches at Bard College.
