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Abave: Oliuia Parker {Americarl, b. t94t). B)WL, t9g6. Digital ink jet print.Coufiesy ofthe photographer and Nash Editiins.

Cover: Joyce Neimanas (American, l. ,Sq+). RE.RODUCE, t9g6. Digital ink jet print.Coufiesy ofthe photographer and Nash Editions.

This exhibition was organized by Ceorge Eastman House and originally exhibited there from April z5 to octo:.-:M aior s upPort was provided by Rochester Institute of Technology's School of photographic Arts a n o -. : : - _:

Tennis Corporation ofAmerica, Bruce Bennett Photography, Chromagen, lnc., M&T Bank, and euesi-; l:-::.:GeorgeEastmsnHouseissupportedwithpublicfundsfromtheNewYorkSrakcouncil

ontheArts,astateagency; thelnstjtt:.:.,.,..::..:the Nationa{ Endowment for the Arts; the County of Monroe; and with private contributions Jrom i'ndiviatuals, ,"rrrrr.-, . ,

O r998 Ceorge Eastman House. produced by the publications depa,:r:-.

eorge Eastman House dedicated r998 to exhibi-

tions that addressed cultural, aesthetic, and tech-

nical issues currently confronting or espoused

by contemporary photography and its practition-

ers. The first of these exhibitions, Digital Frontiers:

Photography's Future at Nash Editions surveys

the expanding realm of digital arts through ink jet

prints produced at Nash Editions, a fine-art print

studio Iocated in Manhattan Beach, California.

Founded in r99r by musician-photographer

Craham Nash and colleague Mac Holbert, Nash

Editions was the first studio to specialize exclu-

sively in digital fine-art printmaking. lt quickly

became a haven fer photographers exploring

d i gita I tech nolo gy-com puters, d i gita I software,

scanners, and printers-and the ways in which

this techno ogy was inscribing a new aesthetic

trajectory for photography and printmaking.

Well-versed in photography and its history as both

photographer and ccllector, Craham Nash came

to the photograph,c oossibilities of digital fine-art

prints when the technology was still experimental,

the software and printer as yet unavailable. Enter

the lris printer, an ink jet printer long used in com-

mercial printing to preview an image before it

reached the production press. This printer, and

the subsequent development of software to trans-

late an image into digital language the lris printer

could read, not only served as the foundation for

the establishment of Nash Editions, but as a revo-

lutionary force in advancing a future for photogra-

phy closely aligned with the new frontiers of digital

printmaking.

Since its origins, photography has been inter-

twined with printmaking, not merely because both

are media of multiple reproduction, but more

importantly because they are cultural systems of

mass communication and information. lndeed,

the visual information that permeates our lives

through newspapers, magazines, advertisements,

and the like are produced by photo-mechanical

processes, a union ofphotography and printing.

While this union primarily has had a commercial

or informational function, photographers in the

r97os began to view photo-mechanical processes,

such as screenprinting and offset lithography,

as possessing great potential as fine-art media.

For them, these processes meant the creation

of art in keeping with its time, resonant with a

similarly cultural mediating and persuasive power.

Graham Nash (American, b. England, t94z). WALL PAINr/NC, NYC, tg9t. Digital ink jet prinlCourtesy ofthe photographer and Nash Editions.

Today, an analogous sensibility impacis the digital

arts. The dominance of digital technology in mass

culture, and its inextricable ties to photography

and printing, represents a dynamic vehicle for

artistic statements. lt also denotes a further level-

ing of a hierarchy of techniques that distinguished

the reproduction processes of mass media from

traditional photography and printmaking. ln ever

greater measure, the arbitrary lines once separat-

ing photography {rom other art media are blurred,

as are the lines separating art from life.

Although only seven years young, ink jet prints

have aggressively moved into the forefront of the

digital arts. Digital printing's popularity is marked

by a proliferation of fine-art print studios, an intro-

duction into academic curricula and museum

archives, and the establishment of professional

pu bl ications and or ganization s, i ncludi n g the

lnternational Association of Fine Art Digital

Printmakers organized in ry97. Accompanying

these advancements are new printing standards

and practices to ensure the stability and future

of the medium. But it is a future, due to its rapid

groMh, that is still emerging and redefining

itsel{with every innovation and application.

The photographers featured in Digital Frontiers

are not only among the first to experiment with

ink jet printin gi many were among the first genera-

tion of photographers who, in the r97os, took up

reproduction technologies or subject matter born

of mass media. Their attentiveness to the "new"

is on one hand a way to continue extending the

boundaries of traditional photographic and print-

making practices, while on the other hand an

attempt to integrate wider cultural issues and

themes into art phoiography. Their approaches,

like the subjects they explore, are diverse. They

range from the appropriation of imagery from

mass media to the seamless montage of found

or invented pictures, from reworking pre-existing

photographs and negatives to experimenting

with computer manipulations of pictorial form

and perspective. Taken as a whole, these artists

and their work point to photography's versatility

in engaging advanced forms of picture-making

and its ability to constantly reinvest itself for a

digital future that is as inevitable as it is unknown.

Therese Mulligan, Curator of Photography

Ceorge Eastman House

lnternational Museum of Photography and Film

Rochester, New York

Darryl Curran (American, b. tglS).TROPHY, FOUR HORSES, POTEMKIN, t994.

Digitat inkjet print. Courtesy ofthe photographer and Nash Editions.

David Hockney (British, b. ryj7). SECOND DETAIL. S/VA/L SPACE MARCH z5TH t995. Digital ink jet print.Courtesy ofthe photographer and Nash Editions.

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Pedro Meyer (Mexican, b. Spain, ryj5). EXPLOSION OF CREE/V CHAIRS, TUXIACO, OAXACA, t99t/t9g7. Digital ink jet print.Courlesy ofthe photographer and Nash Editions.

Mafiina Lopez (American, b. tg1z). REVOLUTIONS lN TIME, #t, t994. Digital ink jet print.Courtesy ofthe photographer and Nash Editions,

All prints in this exhibition are digital ink,iet prints, popularly known as lris prints after the trade name

ofthe ink jet printer. They appear courtesy ofthe photographers and Nash Editions.

Peter AlexanderAmerican (b. rg:S)

BUNDY1994

WESTWOOD1994

Eileen Cowin

American (b.tg+l)

LAN DM IN ES

1993

YEARNINC FOR PERFECTION

1997

. . . INTO THE NICHT1997

Eileen Cowin

in collaboration withLouise Erdrich

NICHT COWN1995

Robert CummingAmerican (b. tS+l)

SUBMARINE1977 11997

DRUC STORE

1g77 llgg7

Darryl Curran

American (b. rS;i)

TROPHY, FOUR HORSES,

POTEM KI N

1994

RED RIBBON, WORN BLADE,

KIMONO1995

BETHLEH EM

1g96

Joe Deal

American (b.tg+l)

U NTITLED1996

Carol Flax

American (b. r95z)

MEMORIES #r199511997

MEMORIES #z1gg5l1997

THREE SISTERS

199511997

Robert HeineckenAmerican (b. r93r)

SHIVA, KINC OF

DANCERS MANIFESTINCAS A TRANSVESTITE

tggzlt998

David Hockney

British (b. r937)

SECOND DETAIL.

SNAIL SPACE

MARCH z5TH t995r 995

':a:::

The curator wishes to thank Ceorge Eastman House's Amelia Hugill-Fontanel, curatorial assistant, Becky Dalpe,

curatorial intern, and Nrrh Editions' curator Chris Pan for their contributions to this exhibition.

THE STUDIOMARCH zSTH t9951 995

Les Krims

American (b. rg+i)

STILTED

1995From series:

The Decline of the Lefi

Martina Lopez

American (b. r96z)

REVOLUTIONSIN TIME, #r1994

Danny Lyon

American {b. t94z)

CHICACO, r965

PHOTO MONTACE, r996

ADIRONDACK CRAVEYARD

PHOTO MONTACE, r996

Pedro Meyer

Mexican (b. Spain, r935)

DAY OF THE DEAD,

PAPANTTA, VERACRUZ

t98glt997

EXPLOSION OF CREEN

CHAI R5, TLAXIACO, OAXACAt99t 1t997

Graham Nash

American(b. England, r94z)

SELF PORTRAIT, PLAZA

t974lt99z

WALL PAINTINC, NYC

r99t

Joyce NeimanasAmerican (b.tg+q)

DEAR DIARY

1 995

REPRODUCE

1g96

LICKS

1g96

SECON DS

1g96

Esther Parada

American (b. r938)

A THOUSAND CENTURIES1gg2

A THOUSAND CENTURIES

Artist's proof, no. i1997

A THOUSAND CENTURIESArtist's proo{, no. 41997

Olivia Parker

American (b. r94r)

CUP & SAUCER

1996

PITCH ER

1996

BOWL

1995

PLATTER

1996

Esther Parada (American, b. tgjS). ATHOUSAND CENIUR/E tggz. Digital ink jet print.

Courtesy ofthe photographer and Nash Editions.