El Presidente de Printmaking
While flipping through the pages of the April issue of Wallpaper, I was surprised to notice the work of Columbian artist Miler Lagos. Pictured on page 293 with former President-turned gallerist Cesar Gaviria were two of Lagos’ sculptural printworks. Though the story failed to even mention Lagos, I was happy to be reminded of his work. Art on Paper did a one page feature on him a few months ago but since then I’ve heard little. Lagos is a sculptor and his work does give some weight to the old stereotype that often the most interesting printmaking comes from non-printmakers. While I don’t think this is always the case, I do think coming to print from another discipline can free an artist from the usual print baggage.
Lagos’ sculptural printworks are something of a cross between Felix Gonzales-Torres and Noriko Ambe… using a stack of offset prints, he carves tree stump-like forms. The offset stacks are comprised of identical images from the history of print (Durer, etc.). Lagos takes the multiples and carves them en masse into singular objects- from tree to paper, from paper to tree.
That is so great! I really want to touch that. Amen to “print baggage”, btw.