Crown Point Press in the ’80s

January 9 - March 7, 2020

In 2020, as Crown Point Press moves into its fifty-eighth year, the first exhibition in its gallery looks back to the 1980s. In the ’80s women had big hair and shoulder pads. John Lennon was shot; the Iran-Iraq war began; the fax machine, Pac Man, and domestic camcorders appeared. Ronald Reagan, a Republican, replaced Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, as President. The economic unrest of the 1970s had gradually shifted toward an era of extravagance. In the ’80s, many artists worked in large-scale. Painting was influenced by advertising and entertainment.

Crown Point Press in the ’80s includes etchings made at Crown Point in the ’80s and also woodcuts from the Japan and China programs. The artists are: Vito Acconci, Robert Bechtle, John Cage, Francesco Clemente, Tony Cragg, Elaine de Kooning, Richard Diebenkorn, Eric Fischl, Joel Fisher, Helen Frankenthaler, Hamish Fulton, April Gornik, Hans Haacke, Al Held, Robert Hudson, Bryan Hunt, Shoichi Ida, Joan Jonas, Anish Kapoor, Alex Katz, Joyce Kozloff, Robert Kushner, Sherrie Levine, Sol LeWitt, Tom Marioni, Robert Moskowitz, Judy Pfaff, Janis Provisor, Rammellzee, Ed Ruscha, David Salle, Italo Scanga, José Maria Sicilia, Richard Smith, Pat Steir, Wayne Thiebaud, David True, and William T. Wiley.

Join us in the Crown Point gallery for a conversation among Crown Point Press founding director Kathan Brown, conceptual artist Tom Marioni, and Berkeley Art Museum adjunct curator Connie Lewallen, all of whom were actively engaged with Crown Point in the 1980s.
Wednesday, March 4
5:30-7:30 PM

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