Affiche van drukkerij "Atelier 63" te Parijs after 1975

This anonymous poster advertises printmaking workshops at Atelier 63 in Paris and is made with graphic simplicity. The limited palette creates a no-nonsense approach, but the image is full of subtle shades of gray. I’m drawn to the hands of the printer, inking the plate or pulling a print, it’s hard to tell. The attention to process is everything, and for me, the image is an acknowledgement of the physicality of artmaking; the hand is the origin, the start of a whole process that ends in the final print. I love the way the person is dressed, too, suggesting a kind of uniform. It makes me think of Josef Albers at the Bauhaus, exploring the basic principles of form and color with a similar degree of seriousness. Both are evidence of the enduring power of simple forms. There’s no one meaning, but many possibilities.