Untitled 1967

This untitled print by Hans Hinterreiter employs screen printing, a process where ink is pressed through a stenciled mesh. The resulting graphic quality is bold, with flat areas of saturated color. The nature of screen printing encourages geometric designs like this one; the hard edges and layered planes are inherent to the process. To create this image, Hinterreiter would have prepared separate screens for each color – red, black, blue and white – carefully aligning them to build up the composition. Screen printing allows for multiples, and this raises questions of originality and value, which are often tied to the unique hand of the artist. But in fact, the control of color, the alignment, and the registration of the screens, requires considerable skill, even if the final effect seems quite simple. Looking at this print, we might ask ourselves how such works challenge our preconceptions of both craft and art, production and originality.