Building Utopia
In 2021 storied New York gallery David Zwirner launched their own in-house fine art print publishing program under the name Utopia Editions. We were thrilled to connect with Elleree Erdos, their inaugural Director who worked closely with Zwirner to establish the Prints & Editions department with the gallery and spearhead their publishing program. Thank you for chatting Elleree!
Hayley Barker’s new six-plate etching, New Yard, Elysian Heights, being printed at Wingate Studios, New Hampshire, 2023.
Photo by Tony Luong Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner
Hayley Barker, New Yard, Elysian Heights, 2023
Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner
I’d love to know a little about your own background. Where did your expertise and interest in prints originate?
I first became interested in prints and works on paper in general in college, as an intern at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA. My supervisor, Jay Clarke, was an incredible mentor and encouraged me to spend time looking closely at prints. I learned an extraordinary amount just through looking. Jay then introduced me to Susan Tallman, the editor of a now out-of-print publication called Art in Print. I used to write reviews of new editions, going around to different print shops in NYC to see the works in person, and that’s how I got to know the print community here.
Marcel Dzama, Under for opening eyelids of the moon, 2021
© Marcel Dzama. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner
Could you share a little about the background of setting up Utopia, particularly the vision and ambition for it within the gallery’s programming?
Printmaking has a rich global history steeped in innovation and collaboration, with techniques that have been refined for centuries. Our aim is to bring the rich tradition of print to a new generation of artists, printmakers, and collectors by establishing trusted, long-term partnerships. It’s important not only to cultivate young collectors, but also to engage the next generation of artists in the tradition of collaborative printmaking. Our work also helps support an amazing community of master printers who will hopefully pass that tradition along to the next generation of printers. We aim to integrate prints seamlessly into the gallery’s programming–incorporating prints into both physical and online exhibitions and sharing the stories of how they were made.
Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Midnight Voices #2, 2022
Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner
Some of the artists are part of DZ’s stable and others aren’t. How are artists selected?
We meet the artists we collaborate with in a variety of ways, but what unites them is an interest in developing a printmaking practice, whether that’s building on a previous experience with printmaking or learning about what collaborative printmaking entails and making prints for the first time.
Cynthia Talmadge, 1076 Madison, 2023
Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner
How do you see printmaking fitting into the practice of these artists? Is there something inherent to their work that makes them of interest for producing prints?
Some artists’ work may have qualities that would translate well to the printmaking process–a particular interest in how an image is built, layering, or a sense of spatiality. But there isn’t any real formula or predictability to it! The most exciting prints are born of curiosity and an eagerness to dive into the process.
Lucas Arruda, Untitled, 2023
© Lucas Arruda. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner
How involved do the invited artists get in the production of their edition?
Very involved! The artist is usually in the print shop working side by side with the printer, approaching the project as the creation of a new original artwork (not a reproduction).
Could you talk a little about your relationship with the master printers?
We work with a network of master printers across the globe and we try to match each artist with a printer who works in a technique that makes sense for the specific artist’s goals, as well as one whose working style meshes with that of the artist (some are residency-style, others function as more of a drop-in studio, etc.).
You can view all of the available prints at Utopia Editions and follow @davidzwirner for all of the gallery’s news on Utopia Edition releases.