John Begley, Out of the Flat Files

ARTIST STATEMENT

Out of the Flat Files: Into the Light
A Celebration of Fifty Years of Printmaking

In 1975 I completed my Master of Fine Arts at Indiana University. For the past fifty years printmaking has been an integral part of my artistic practice. Over the years it has changed and evolved, but its underlying core values of mark making, (a way of tracking the passage of time), demonstrating emotional states and personality, and making art as an egalitarian undertaking, affordable, humble and multiple, have remained reasons for me to continue exploring the medium.

Over this time span, I have made my own prints, printed for other artists and exhibited them in numerous exhibitions as both the artist and the curator. Over that period a significant inventory of unsold impressions has accumulated.

This dada event, the Merz-Veranstaltung, is an attempt to more widely distribute this stock of images. It may be successful, it may not, you will decide.

This work has been too long hidden in flat files and not available to the light of day. To hopefully rectify this situation, I have pulled out of my print cabinet’s drawers prints from as long ago as fifty-five years. I am glad to giveaway any of the impressions on display if you will make a tax-deductible donation in any amount to help with the conservation and preservation of the print collection at the University of Louisville.

ABOUT John Begley

After forty years being a printmaker and painter, as well as a gallery director and teacher, inspired by David Hockney, I began drawing on my iPhone in the summer of 2014. Since December 2014, I have completed and posted at least one digital drawing each day.

Most begin with an appropriated image encountered in my daily existence. I find the ubiquity and constant presence of the phone both inspiring and challenging. It provides a most serious playground for dada abstraction and absurdist commentary.

The ability of the digital format to assume, usurp, re-contextualize and manipulate images allows me to engage with both historic and contemporary issues of post-modern, interdisciplinary art.

Learn more at: https://www.jpbegleyart.com/