Fog on the Glass
Leopards from “Seasons” by Lesley Schiff
10.5”x8.5”; color xerography print; 1981. Courtesy of the artist.FROM KOLAJ 33
Four Decades of Lesley Schiff’s Photocopy Collage
Lesley Schiff uses simple photocopy technology and found objects to make profoundly emotional work. Ghostly prints made with 1980s office machines anticipate our present day society, immersed in consumerism and tech culture. Suspended between life and death, trapped in time like a feather in amber, Schiff’s 1981 series “Seasons” uses photocopy technology to preserve everyday objects with light. This portfolio of twenty-four Xerox prints is typical printer paper size. Each of the prints shows a unique color image made by collaging two-dimensional and three-dimensional props on the scanner bed.
Katrina Slavik was part of Kolaj Institute’s Curating Collage Workshop in Fall 2020. Slavik got in touch with Schiff to speak to her about the 1981 series “Seasons” and her life and work as an artist since then.
Katrina Slavik’s article about Lesley Schiff appears in Kolaj 33. To see the entire article, http://kolajmagazine.com/content/content/articles/fog-on-the-glass/
Butterfly from “Seasons” by Lesley Schiff 10.5”x8.5”; color xerography print; 1981. Courtesy of the artist.
Schiff was one of the first artists to pioneer photocopier artwork. At first, she came up against some technical problems. In my research, I noticed that some prints were slightly different from one another. After talking with the artist, it turns out that the differences aren’t intentional. Xerox’s color copying at the time was, in Schiff’s own words, “primitive technology”. Sometimes the machine in the print shop would malfunction. Other times, she had to reprint and this caused the slight variations.
“Seasons” is deeply rooted in American culture. The bright printer-ink color tones refer to Pop art pioneers like Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg. In the 80s, technology was just becoming a vital part of everyday life. The prints are made in thirty seconds with the push of a button. The work idolizes technology and instant gratification. To make the prints, Schiff must strike a balance between soulless automation and human decision making. The results are startlingly emotional and human.
Giclee prints by Lesley Schiff 2019 Courtesy of the artist
Lesley Schiff holds a BFA in Painting from The Art Institute of Chicago. Schiff has lectured and conducted seminars at The Art Institute of Chicago, Syracuse University, The School of Visual Arts, Southern Methodist University, and the International Center of Photography, among others. Since 1974, her work has been shown widely in the US and Europe, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2018) and The Whitney Museum of American Art (2017). Learn more at www.lesleyschiff.com.
Katrina Slavik holds a BFA in Painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art.
At long last! Lesley Schiff's Met Debut
Works from Lesley’s Distant Systems are on view now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Included in this season’s Department of Drawings and Print Selections exhibition, the two prints are drawn from the Met’s 2016 acquisition of fourteen works of the same series.
The exhibition will be open through January 27, 2019 at the Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 690.
Star of 'stage' and screen!
Filmmaker Sam Vladimirsky has made a short film about Lesley for Musee Magazine, featuring live footage of Experiments In Electrostatics.
Legacy in Light
THE ART OF LESLEY SCHIFF
Lesley Schiff revolutionized the photocopier from being an office tool to just another instrument in the artist's arsenal. Rather than addressing the tool in her work, Schiff instead uses the photocopier like a paintbrush to realize her vision. Once a painter, Schiff says: “I never intended to stop painting. I just decided to start painting with a modern tool. Working with the color laser printer keeps you in your culture. It's like America. Plugged in. Electronic. Direct." Painting with light, Schiff's body of work offers her vision of the cycle of our existence: man, woman, child, civilization, nature, technology. More recent works challenge the viewer to understand the concept of eye-levels and perspectives, reinventing the way we see. Schiff's work was the Metropolitan Museum of Art's first digital acquisition, and most recently, was featured at the Whitney Museum of American Art in "Experiments in Electrostatics".
CANON, COPIES, CONSTRUCTION - Photo-Copy Art Defined in the 19th-21st centuries
“ Rembrandt was not great for the quality of his pencils, so too, Schiff distances herself from her medium of choice and elevates the status of photocopy art from kitsch……….. “
“ ………. Perhaps the cycle between man and technology was destined to be represented by an artist like Schiff, originally a painter, who redefined photomechanical reproduction sequences to produce work that does not rely on its process for meaning, but instead, allows the artist to realize entirely new ways of seeing.”
—Samuel L. Vladimirsky
6 May, 2018
Lesley featured on imaging tech blog
Lesley Schiff and the State of the Art
Lesley Schiff is an accomplished fine artist, whose work has been featured recently in the Whitney Museum of American Art, as well as other major museums, corporate and private collections.
Using a color laser printer “like a paintbrush” she creates brilliant works of art that concentrate on those pre-digital technologies of the scanner and the photocopier as artist tools.
We asked her a few questions:
Q: How many years have you been producing artwork with photocopiers?
A: Since 1975, 43 years.
Q: Why do you choose to use photocopiers to produce your artwork?
A: At first I was intrigued by the colors. It was a more modern look because of how the technology accessed the image. Working with the color laser printer keeps you in your culture. It's like America. Plugged in. Electronic. Direct—but no matter how hi-tech my tools become, I'll always consider myself a painter, but instead of painting with oils, I'll be painting with light. I decided it was a whole new world. A different edge.
Q: What is your favorite part of working with photocopiers?
A: The immediacy. In less than a minute I can see if an idea is worth pursuing.
Q: How has using a photocopier to produce art made your creative process easier?
A: I can explore my vision in a variety of ways because of the copiers versatility and directness.
Q: Do you have a favorite work of photocopier art that you have created?
A: No, As an artist, i'm always hoping that the next piece will be greater. I'm always amazed when I work. The outcome is a constant surprise...i'd never get anywhere without my tools. I cherish my Canon imagePROGRAF 6400 and my Canon CLC 900.
Q: Where do you see the future of art?
A: The future of art is unlimited. Western art has a built-in tradition of respect for innovation and exploration.
Q: Do you miss (traditional) painting?
A: I don’t miss painting, because I still draw almost daily. Mainly because I am painting within the broadest terms of my tradition; taking what’s come before to another dimension by creating my own “paintbrush and paints” using the copier.
Lesley Schiff’s artwork does have a painterly quality. Using real objects, deliberate lighting, and some small movements during the copying process, Schiff adds unconventional flares, distortions and highlights that give her work an exciting visual appeal.
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New York Times: 'Go See Lesley Schiff's SEASONS at the Whitney!'
Lesley Schiff's SEASONS is featured prominently in an article published by The New York Times, Friday (3/15/18). Appearing on the front page of the Art & Design section and written by Martha Schwender, the article recommends seeing the piece, calling it "intriguing." Two selections from SEASONS were printed with the article.
Experiments in Electrostatics: Photocopy Art from the Whitney’s Collection, 1966–1986 is on display through March 25th. (More Information)
The Whitney show is open! (and the media features keep rolling in)
ARTFIXdaily (Premier New York Art Events Online Magazine)
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (German Television)
Berliner Zeitung (German Newspaper)
Westdeutsche Zeitung (German Newspaper)
LAUSITZER RUNDSCHAU (German Newspaper)
IndustryAnalysts.com (Premier Imaging, Print and ECM Industry Information)
PULPLAB (Digital Culture Blog)
The Whitney will show Lesley's SEASONS beginning November 17
The work that turned fine art, digital.
The Whitney Museum will show Lesley Schiff's pioneering SEASONS portfolio in its entirety. Many prominent collections acquired SEASONS as their first digital artwork.
Images from SEASONS will serve as the face of the Whitney's upcoming Experiments in Electrostatics exhibition, opening to the public on November 17, 2017.
The exhibition will inaugurate the Museum's third floor as formal exhibition space.
A New Season at Lesley Schiff Studios
We've refreshed!
We had visitors...
...many visitors! But among them was Interior Designer Karen Elizabeth Marx (Elle Decor).
(h/t @karenelizabethmarx)
Distant Systems Will Exhibit in Kansas City
Lesley Schiff Studios is delighted to announce the exhibition of selected pieces from Miss Schiff's Distant Systems series—an ongoing exploration of the unengineered simplicity of nature and the universe.
The pieces will be included in a group exhibition entitled Defining Atmosphere at Weinberger Fine Art, a preeminent fine art gallery in Kansas City, Mo..
Defining Atmosphere will be open from January 13th to February 25th. A cocktail reception will be held on January 13th from 5-8pm in the exhibition space.
This exhibition follows the Metropolitan Museum of Art's acquisition of fourteen pieces from the same series, last year.
Defining Atmosphere
Opening Reception
5-8pm January 13th 2017
Weinberger Fine Art
114 Southwest Boulevard
Kansas City, Missouri 64108
816.301.4428
weinbergerfineart.com
To see work from Distant Systems and other series, please visit its web gallery here
or follow Lesley on Instagram.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has Acquired New Work by Lesley Schiff
The Museum's Department of Drawings and Prints has acquired fourteen pieces from Lesley's Distant Systems series—an ongoing statement about the unengineered simplicity of nature and the solar system.
The newly acquired works are the first giclée prints to be collected by this department—continuing the tradition of innovation shared by the Artist and Museum.
In 1981, the Museum purchased twenty-four prints from Lesley's Seasons series—its first acquisition of color laser prints.
This is the third acquisition of Lesley's work by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
LIT was on WBUR with Bob Oakes this Morning
Listen here:
Link Updated Nov 17, 2015; Originally posted September 18th 2015
An interview about LIT with Lesley on The Arts by Karena
Lesley and LIT were featured on The Arts by Karena including a tremendous quote by Harvard University George Martin Lane Professor of Classics, Richard F. Thomas.
Click here or on the picture to read more.
LIT Featured in Boston Magazine!
Boston is a popular magazine in its namesake town. Click here to read the article.
LIT Featured on THEFENWAY
THEFENWAY is a magazine published and distributed around Boston detailing the happenings in its up and coming namesake neighborhood.
Thursday: Lesley will be on WBUR with Bob Oakes
WBUR's Bob Oaks swung by the Van Ness Pop-up Museum to interview Lesley for Morning Edition. The segment will run on Thursday Morning around 10:30am. Be sure to tune in.
Tickets on sale now. The exhibition opens to the public on Friday.