Printmaking is among the most resolutely contradictory of the contemporary arts. It ‘s premised on archaic technology (woodblocks 1,300 years old have been recovered in Korea), but is constantly being rethought, re-tooled and expanded.
The finished product is inherently reproducible, but the technique is used to emphasize the hand wrought and unique. Accomplished artists who have gained fame for work in other media return to the form again and again, yet few who are primarily printmakers can achieve prominence.