Jury's Statement
It was a privilege to serve as a member of the jury of the 5th International MiniPrint Finland Triennial and a joy to have had the opportunity to explore the breadth of contemporary print practice. The current worldwide vitality of printmaking can be attributed in part to the enthusiastic acceptance and incorporation of digital technologies into mainstream print activity. It was very exciting to see within this large diverse body of works that many artists are well aware that these emerging technologies are simply additional tools used in combination with others in the making of contemporary prints. We saw the works of many artists who gracefully merged new technologies with traditionally based technical practice, and numerous more who chose to combine more than one print process. Yet there are many prints in the exhibition where the process was direct and straightforward with clarity of intent, allowing the mark of the artists' hand to be clearly evident. All the artist's represented by their prints in this exhibit, whether on the cutting edge or firmly grounded in tradition, are paying homage to the evolving history of printmaking while making a contribution to contemporary World culture.
Members of the jury began the selection process with a rather straightforward objective in mind. We were looking for images that held our interest with persuasive content and also communicated the artist's knowledge, interest and commitment to craft; did the artist posses command of the medium, and was it used with a subtle sensitivity that worked in tandem with the concept of the work. We were in search of images that took us to a place more expansive than the physical dimensions of the print, to a fresh and new experience.
To be in direct contact with a print and judge its strength is very important. Small format prints, which are often quite subtle, need to be examined up close. Selections were made based on a careful viewing of the actual works. At the end of the third day we had selected 331 prints by 203 artists from 34 countries to include in this exhibition.
The jury chose prize-vinners of Grand Prix and two Commentatory Awards and gave five honorable mentions.Despite the varied and distinctive character of the prize-winning works, they all have certain elements in common: they are clearly the result of individual and deeply felt emotion. Each print in this select group shows us something unexpected; each one has a special quality that allows the image to remain in our thoughts in the way only something wholly realized in art can.
On behalf of myself and my fellow jurors, Paula Martikainen, Reijo Mörö, Hjalmar de Kort, and Ulla Aartomaa, we express sincere appreciation to the efficient and well organized members of the Graphic Artists Association of Lahti, who had in place an orderly and precise system that allowed the jury the ability to examine, discuss and navigate with grace through 2731 prints, sent by 787 artists from 61 countries around the world.
Congratulations to the organizers of the 5th International MiniPrint Finland Triennial, the museum director, the curators and staff members of the Lahti Art Museum and members of The Graphic Artist Association of Lahti for understanding the importance of exhibitions of this nature and for providing the means for making this exhibition of extraordinary prints a reality.
Kim Young-Hoon, Korea
Grand Prix
The two figures in the print entitled Tell Me the Truth present
a repressed starkness and a pared-down beauty. Because the print is elusive
in the references that would disclose the mystery that the two figures share,
the image leaves us haunted by a sensation that seems to rest just beyond the
perceptible.
Eliisa Isoniemi, Finland
Commendatory Award
This work, Sorrow II, seems to reference our continually
changing place in the world and is perhaps suggesting that we look inward toward
a self-sufficient shelter from these difficult times.
Lars Wikström, Sweden
Commendatory Award
In this print, Steps I, we experience an image of a weighty
yet floating cut-out staircase, rendered in rich muddy browns and covered with
the cast shadows of the forest. We find ourselves drawn into a world of shadows
and of visual delicacy.
Carla Neis, Switzerland
Honourable Mention
n the delicate print, Small Dance of Death, we are drawn into a
world of contrasting associations. On one side of this two paneled print, the
form is brightly red in color, soft edged and seen as if from a great distance
in time. The right panel is densely dark and lush with a beautifully detailed
rendering of the skeleton of the creature that apparently, until recently, was
living.
Yasuhiro Oki, Japan
Honourable Mention
Bird is rich and visually complex print, relying on the use of
pattern and images appropriated from art history, science and religion. The
image manages to firmly assert its presence without readily revealing its meaning.
Niina Putkonen, Finland
Honourable Mention
Untitled is a delicate and spare print that has a ghost like
appearance, almost a suggestion that the head and shoulders of the depicted
figure does not so much inhabit the image area as haunt it.
Vladimir Zuev, Russia
Honourable Mention
In this print, In One Rhythm, we experience a floating world of
lush atmospheric effects that contain both small and large fragments of familiar
objects and a human form drifting in a world of spatial ambiguity and a shifting
visual perspective.
Jöran Österman, Sweden
Honourable Mention
The portrayed figure in It Will Pass III hovers just above the
print's surface without really taking hold of its material existence, almost as
though it will be there for just a moment. The sense is that we are viewing an
image from a beautifully controlled dream.
Rosanne Retz
Amherst, Massachusetts
August 19, 2004
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