Rat

Artist Alan J. Shields (1944 - 2005)

Date1974

Mediumsilkscreen with dye, cut up, stitched and glued into two-sided lattice, with flocking

DimensionsFrame: 17 11/16 x 17 7/16 in. (44.9 x 44.3 cm) Image: 17 x 16 3/4 in. (43.2 x 42.5 cm)

SignedAlan Shields 74

Credit LineGift of Barbara B. Millhouse

Object number1983.2.25

DescriptionRat is one of a group of two-sided prints that Alan Shields made at Bill Weege’s Jones Road Print Shop and Stable in 1973 and 1974. These open grid or “lattice prints” were constructed out of strips of previously printed paper. The related prints by Shields are Cocles and Newport II from 1973 and Punk, Black Bart, and Flat Blue Frog from 1974. Shields’s proclivity for incorporating and recycling scraps of materials from previous work to create new images is evident in Rat. Print historian Ronny Cohen described Shields’s process: “After the paper was silkscreened on both sides, the sheets were cut into narrow strips with a big paper cutter. The strips were immediately wrapped into bundles, fitted into slots of a cardboard jig, and fastened with bookbinder’s glue and stitching. Then the printing began again, and flocking was added. Weege recalled that they also laid paper below the lattice structure they were printing to ‘catch the stuff that went underneath.’” [1]

Shields did not favor either side of his print and, other than dimension and basic structure, created distinct images that do not reference each other. Side A of Rat incorporates flocking, glitter and partial curvilinear shapes in greens, blues, and violets on the strips of the lattice, and is signed by the artist with the edition number. A partial, undecipherable watermark in the rag paper appears in the lower part of the composition, parallel to the work’s edge. The paper strips of side B are reminiscent of filmstrip negatives, with fewer colors used and strong contrasts: black with light blue, orange, red and white. There seems to be no evidence of the artist’s trademark stitching line in making this print.

Shields has produced a playful repudiation of Minimalism with Rat which, despite its somewhat mechanical process of assembly with repurposed materials, celebrates idiosyncrasy and chance.

Notes:
[1] Ronny Cohen, Alan Shields: Print Retrospective. Exhibition catalogue (Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, 1986), 11.
ProvenanceTo 1983
Barbara B. Millhouse, New York, NY and Winston-Salem, NC. [1]

From 1983
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by Barbara B. Millhouse on December 29, 1983. [2]

Notes:
[1] Deed of Gift, object file.
[2] See note 1.
Exhibition History1976
Twentieth Century American Print Collection opening
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (12/3/1976)

2016-2018
Off the Wall: Postmodern Art at Reynolda
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (12/3/2016-6/11/2018)
Published References

Status

Not on view

Collections