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Los Angeles print workshop Gemini G.E.L. is marking its 60th anniversary with an exhibition drawn from its archives. Curators Susan Dackerman and Helen Molesworth focus on how artists used the workshop to collaborate and experiment beyond conventional printmaking.
Los Angeles print workshop Gemini G.E.L. is marking its 60th anniversary with (Almost) Every Year: Sixty Years of Printmaking at Gemini G.E.L., an exhibition assembled from its archives. Curators Susan Dackerman and Helen Molesworth use the works to show how artists have treated the workshop as a place for dialogue and experimentation, pushing beyond familiar approaches to printmaking.
Founded in 1966 by Sydney B. Felsen and Stanley Grinstein, Gemini G.E.L. brought together artists from Los Angeles and elsewhere. Its early roster included Josef Albers, Man Ray, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Claes Oldenburg, Frank Stella and Ellsworth Kelly, alongside Los Angeles artists such as David Hockney, Ed Ruscha, Ron Davis and Bruce Nauman.
The exhibition’s juxtapositions connect artists through shared formal interests: Stella and Kelly’s explorations of shape and color, Rauschenberg and Johns’s use of found-object imagery, and the linear matrices in work by Toba Khedoori, Julie Mehretu and Analia Saban. Other pairings show artists departing from familiar styles. Joel Shapiro and Richard Tuttle, known for minimalist sculpture, made colorful, complex screenprinted geometric abstractions.
Some works test the boundaries of what a print can be. In 1969, Oldenburg made a molded polyurethane relief depicting an automobile profile. Johns printed a lightbulb image on lead. Edward and Nancy Kienholz turned gasoline containers into sculptures resembling television sets. Allen Ruppersberg’s 2013 work Great Speckled Bird used a 20-foot perforated piano-player roll, divided into four sections and printed with images of handwritten song lyrics on vintage motel stationery.
How Gemini Expanded Printmaking
The anniversary exhibition presents printmaking not simply as a fixed technique but as a format artists could reshape through materials, scale and collaboration. The examples range from lithography and screenprinting to a molded relief, a lead surface and a repurposed piano roll. That range helps explain why Gemini’s history is relevant beyond the workshop itself: it documents artists testing what counts as an editioned or printed work.
The curators’ focus on exchange also makes the exhibition a record of artistic encounters across generations and styles. Gemini’s pairings show how artists could enter the workshop with established practices and leave with work that challenged expectations. The exhibition’s account of women’s participation is another part of that history: the report says women began working at Gemini in the 1980s, starting with Dorothea Rockburne and Vija Celmins, followed by Susan Rothenberg and Elizabeth Murray. At a gallery talk, the curators described the current roster as distinguished by gender equality.
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Six Decades in the Workshop
Gemini opened in 1966, bringing high-profile artists from New York into a Los Angeles printmaking setting while also inviting artists from the city’s growing art community. That mix is visible in the early roster, which included Albers, Rauschenberg and Johns as well as Hockney, Ruscha and Nauman. The exhibition follows the workshop across nearly every year of its activity, rather than focusing on a single period or artist.
The title, (Almost) Every Year, reflects that broad archival survey. The exhibition is not described as a complete inventory of every work made at Gemini; its curators selected and arranged works to foreground conversation among artists and experimentation with process. The review identifies works from 1969 through Ruppersberg’s 2013 piano-roll project, illustrating how the workshop’s investigations changed over time.
“The workshop served as a place for dialogue among visiting artists and for experimentation beyond their usual routines and comfort zones.”
— Curators Susan Dackerman and Helen Molesworth, as described in the exhibition report
What the Exhibition Leaves Open
The available report does not give the exhibition’s opening and closing dates, venue details beyond Los Angeles, or a full list of works on view. It also does not specify how many works or artists are included, or provide figures to measure changes in the workshop’s roster over time. The curators’ description of gender equality is attributed to their gallery talk; the report does not define the measure used for that characterization.
The exhibition frames selected works as evidence of dialogue and experimentation, but the report does not establish that every artist or project at Gemini followed the same process. Further details about the archive, selection criteria and current workshop activity are not provided.
The Anniversary Exhibition on View
The exhibition is the central development identified for Gemini G.E.L.’s 60th anniversary. Readers seeking practical details such as visiting dates, location and access arrangements will need to check the gallery’s current information, as those details are not included in the report. The account does not announce a later program or another anniversary event.
As the exhibition presents works across almost six decades, its next public milestone is its ongoing presentation to visitors. Any further announcements about events, access or related programming remain to be confirmed in the information available here.
Key Questions
What is Gemini G.E.L.?
Gemini G.E.L. is a Los Angeles print workshop founded in 1966 by Sydney B. Felsen and Stanley Grinstein. It has worked with artists to produce prints and works that extend beyond conventional print formats.
What is the 60th-anniversary exhibition called?
The exhibition is titled (Almost) Every Year: Sixty Years of Printmaking at Gemini G.E.L. Curators Susan Dackerman and Helen Molesworth selected works from the workshop’s archives.
Which artists are represented in the exhibition?
The report names artists including Josef Albers, Man Ray, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Claes Oldenburg, Frank Stella, Ellsworth Kelly, David Hockney, Ed Ruscha, Bruce Nauman, Vija Celmins, Julie Mehretu and Allen Ruppersberg. It does not provide a complete artist list.
How did artists push beyond traditional printmaking?
Examples include Oldenburg’s molded polyurethane automobile relief, Johns’s lightbulb image printed on lead, and the Kienholzes’ sculptures made from gasoline containers. Ruppersberg used a long perforated piano-player roll as the surface for a multicolored screenprint.
Source: hyperallergic.com
