The Attraction of Print: Notes on the Surface of the (Art) Print

An examination of the surface of the contemporary art print facilitates the positioning of printmaking in relation to contemporary painting, photography, and new media. Terry Smith's differentiation between “viscerality” and “enervation,” Richard Shiff's documentation of the changing perception of the surface in modernity, and the notion of the “haptic” as developed by Laura Marks with regard to experimental video serve to chart similarities and differences between print and other contemporary media and to conceptualize elements of the surface of print. In particular, the extent to which prints may have a distinct haptic is investigated.