In Issue 10 we presented an exclusive feature on Daniel Rolnik’s latest curatorial endeavor, THE PRINT POP COLLECTION at The Venice Art Walk. Now that a few weeks have passed, Daniel shares his thoughts with Installation on the success of the pop-up and the future of his newly co-founded venture Intellectual Property Prints.
By Daniel Rolnik
Hi, I’m Daniel.
I “THINK” we did an AWESOME job at The Venice Art Walk. The event not only celebrated the first official pop-up in the 34-year history of The Venice Art Walk, but marked the debut of Intellectual Property Prints. With the expertise of master screen printer Ryan McIntosh, we created epic pieces with artists Eric Joyner, Daniel Edwards, Jason Shawn Alexander, Bob Dob, Christine Wu, Michael Sieben, and Gregory Siff.
I would like to thank Lisa Gelber for inviting us to create the pop-up show at The Venice Art Walk. We owe her and the rest of the Art Walk team a HUGE congratulations for putting together such an excellent show this year. Together with the silent auction, we all helped raise over $650,000 for The Venice Family Clinic! I first met Lisa Gelber on a tour of the Weisman Art Foundation last year. If you haven’t been, it’s a house in Beverly Hills that offers free tours. It’s jam-packed with a priceless collection of art. There are Giacometti sculptures in the living room and Rothko paintings in the kitchen. Lisa mentioned that she was looking for cool artists to include in the annual silent auction. In the past, I had introduced her to the work of Aaron Axelrod, Jon Bernad, Alex Andre, and Isabelle Alford-Lago.
When 2013 came around, Lisa asked me if there was something unique I wanted to do for The Venice Art Walk. Over the course of several meetings and endless brainstorming sessions, it finally hit me. Let’s do a pop-up of screenprints! Before we ever became business partners, Ryan McIntosh and I always wanted to collaborate, and this was the perfect opportunity. We immediately began assembling a dream team list of artists that had to meet a rigorous criteria: the artists needed to be part of at least one solo exhibition per year, had to have a growing career, and so on.
Over the course of five months, Ryan and I worked non-stop with all of our artists- Eric Joyner, Daniel Edwards, Jason Shawn Alexander, Bob Dob, Christine Wu, Michael Sieben and Gregory Siff- to produce unique and original pieces. Our goal from the get-go was to maintain the highest standards possible, and to not forgo quality at any expense. We created Intellectual Property Prints with the intention of doing the exact opposite of what those cookie cutter digital studios are doing. We didn’t want to become a factory that churned out boring posters. Our mission was simple, to release original and genuine screen prints driven by collaboration.
When Gregory Siff came to our studio, he made his prints right there in front of us, and the collaboration became fully realized. He knew he wanted to do an American flag and executed it in his signature graphic hand. What looks like red, white, and blue in the finished piece were actually all drawn out in black markers on transparent sheets of acetate with each color painted in black on separate layers. The faces were all drawn in one line and references a conversation Gregory, Ryan, and I had about what it means to be American and the idea of the American Dream. If you read the faces closely, you’ll see the message of our conversation encoded in them like magic.
Thank you,
Daniel Rolnik
“The World’s Most Adorable Art Critic”