Issue date: 10/16/08 Section: Scene

Media Credit: Andrea Pendergast "Deli," a color 3-D lithograph by Red Grooms, is on display as part of the Sharks Ink Revisited exhibition at Foster Art Gallery in Haas Fine Arts Center. Grooms has another 3-D piece, "Extra! Extra! Read all about it," displayed next to "Deli." The exhibit will remain on display until Oct. 30.

Lithography: an art that derives from the principle that water and grease don't like each other. Sounds simple? Wrong.

"It's a very technical field," Foster Gallery director Tom Wagener said. "It's a slow and meticulous process by nature. The people who do this … have very analytical minds and a lot of patience."

From now through Oct. 30, the Foster Gallery has work from the printmaking company Shark Ink on display, an exhibit they last hosted 10 years ago.

Wagener thinks lithographers have a bit more of a challenge because it's a step process, whereas oil painters can cover up using layers if they are unsatisfied with their product.

Looking in the gallery, one can immediately see a full spectrum of colors.

"Walking by, I saw the wood cuts … I'm also color ADD," sophomore Alex Zink said.The woodcuts Zink is referring to have to do with the process of creating a lithograph. The artist first carves a pattern or drawing into a piece of wood and then sends it through a printing press. The ink is then pushed into the grooves the artist carved, only one color at a time. There is a similar process with limestone pieces, where the plate must be constantly wet so the grease, which is used to draw an image, can't go in the grooves.

The tediousness of the processes is what makes lithography so interesting to look at, Wagener said.

"This is just a dynamic group of artists … with different interpretations of lithography," Wagener said.

There are several types of lithographs in the exhibit, including three-dimensional dioramas and collages inspired by illustration and tattoo drawings. Zink especially likes the tattoo-esque drawings of nationally renowned artist Don Ed Hardy.

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