Alan Shields

Pace Prints is pleased to announce an exhibition of works by Alan Shields (1944–2005). On view April 19–May 24, 2019, the show will highlight the artist’s experimental printmaking.

Rather than executing conventional methods such as etching or lithography on paper, Shields embraced papermaking and cumulative techniques. Pushing the parameters of paper as a medium, he challenged traditional two-dimensional ideas of printmaking, by overlapping, dyeing, stitching and creating three-dimensional paper forms. In Sleeping Hair and Worm with a Spur, Shields layered playful pulpy compositions, by lightly sculpting, cutting and sewing their surfaces. There is an energetic vibration from their all-over forms; a delight in their creation.

In his Pop-Up Nature series of four, created in 2001, both volume and negative space become as integral as the exuberantly patterned grid. Shields’ anything-goes philosophy in their making is highlighted, as etching, relief and handmade paper were all employed. Titles, such as Better Mousetrap, give a notion of the playful spirit with which he created the work.

Cowboy Turbin Elephant, a unique work on canvas, is at once sensuously joyous and meditative. Shields’ Buddhist philosophy is manifest in the interlocking patterns; an expression of his ideals of artistic practice and life. This brilliant work was gifted to Pace Editions in 1989, the year it was created, and is on view for the very first time.