Poster Art: Dan Grzeca’s paint-inspired screen prints

Fifteen years ago, Chicago artist Dan Grzeca (pronounced Jet-sah) was painting.  It was the ’90s, and Bob Hartzell and Steve Walters of Screwball Press introduced him and a slew of other artists, including Jay Ryan, to screen printing — specifically, poster making.  “That’s one of the reasons Chicago has such a rich pool of talent,” Grzeca says.  “It’s very self-perpetuating with older artists inspiring and encouraging new, younger artists.”

Painting Today

Painting Today, PhaidonPainting Today
Tony Godfrey, Phaidon Press, $75, 448 pages, hardcover

Every painting student within the last 40 years has been told painting is dead.  But we continue to surround ourselves with paintings, to visit museums and galleries, and to read books filled with images of paintings.  And the market still values paintings — Yue Minjun’s Execution, painted in 1985 and originally sold for $5,000 is now worth almost $6 million.

Author Tony Godfrey picks up on Art Today’s tradition, of using the prestige and magic of print, to effectively create a timeless capsule of paintings from the last forty years. His collection of paintings, arranged by theme, act as an introduction to the major movements in contemporary painting.