B.A.T. State II

B.A.T. State II: featuring prints by women artists at El Nopal Press, 1992-2018

SoLA (South LA) Gallery, the gallery arm of nonprofit and artist-run organization South Bay Contemporary, is pleased to host a second, expanded version of B.A.T., a group exhibition co-curated by Anita Bunn and Francesco Siqueiros that originally took place in 2013/14 featuring contemporary printmaking by 21 women artists. B.A.T. State II will be on view beginning next month, January 5, 2019, with an opening reception that evening from 4 to 7 PM.

In printmaking – a fine art process of image production onto paper, fabric and other mediums under the supervision of both the artist and a master printer – the B.A.T. (i.e. Bon à Tirer, which translated from French means “good to go”) is the final trial proof the artist approves. B.A.T indicates for the master printer – who, in the case for all artists exhibiting in B.A.T. State II, is Siqueiros of El Nopal Press – what the edition should look like. And then, once it’s produced using one or more varieties of copying techniques, the final printed outcome becomes an original piece of art, even when printed in multiples.  

Expansive rather than restrictive, the print works of B.A.T. State II display a feminine sensibility without being gender specific, as well as honors the collaboration and innovation that are hallmarks of El Nopal Press. B.A.T. State II and its co-curators seek to recreate a version of the original show, a "feminist tour de force" as described by Artillery Magazine, to include printmaking by women artists who were not included the first time due to space considerations or due to artwork that has been created in the years since.

In considering the selections for the second edition of B.A.T., the number of women artists El Nopal Press has published is impressive. Printmaking has long been an art form that has not only been open and available to women artists, but also one in which they have excelled. This is especially apparent in the history of printmaking in Los Angeles, where printmaker and pioneer of the feminist art movement June Wayne had such a hand in establishing the importance of the medium.

Located in downtown Los Angeles, Sisqueiros’s El Nopal Press has worked with an accomplished roster of artists during the course of its almost 30-year history. Siqueiros mainly has focused on artists from Los Angeles and Mexico City, but he has worked with artists from New York, Paris and Buenos Aires as well.