Joseph del Pesco
Horwinski Poster Show
Nelson Gallery, UC Davis
This exhibition of fifty-five letter-press posters is just a small selection of the social and political event bills printed by Horwinski Press. Pulled from large stacks in the warehouse in Oakland, California, this accidental archive of popular history from the last fifty years is being exhibited for the first time.
The uncertainty of aesthetic authorship is notable as the clients of Horwinski often surrendered artistic control to the printers (mainly due to the technical limitations of the medium). The current proprietor, James Lang, and his father before him, are therefore largely responsible for the design of most of the material you see on view.
Several of the posters in this installation are considered "work-ups," samples for client preview, and were kept as a library of possibilities for future business. Upon close inspection you'll find the occasional inky fingerprint, hand-written note or spelling error which reveals changes and corrections in the printing process. Also in this mix are posters made for contemporary artists Jeremy Deller and Dave Muller. (James is also working on one for Richard Prince)
While letter-press printing has quickly become a nostalgic media form, pushed toward extinction by the flexibility of the full-color offset press, it's specific aesthetic and longevity are akin to the perseverance of black and white photography despite the invention of various forms of color imaging.
The events and images captured in this collection of material culture can retrieve fragments of vernacular memory, informing our idea of what it means to live in California.
(wall text from exhibition - Joseph del Pesco)