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| Joe Pihas |
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I still think of myself as a printmaker, even though my images no longer come from carved wood or linoleum. I use the image in my photograph to create the print. The image may be cropped and the color altered, but the image you see is the image I saw through the lens of my single lens reflex camera.
Some of the photographs were taken in 1981 when I worked in #2 World Trade Center. Included among the photographs of the World Trade Centers, is a print of the sun setting on the Vista Hotel which stood between the Towers and the Hudson River, as well as its ventilation system that was still under construction. The photograph of the FDR Drive shows people gathering to watch the fireworks on July 4, 1981.
The inspiration for my prints comes from the Japanese printmakers of the Edo period, from such printmakers as Hiroshige and Hokousai. Their delicate depiction of images of nature and architecture are splashed across the sheets of rice paper in bold vivid colors allowing the ink to be absorbed by the paper and become a part of it. The print re-created in my computer is also printed on rice paper. My photograph is the image used to create the print on rice paper. I am informed and deeply indebted to the Japanese printmakers and their delicate yet powerful art.
My prints, in addition to being displayed at the BJ Spoke Gallery in Huntington, will be on display in solo shows at the Jewish Community Center in Oceanside, the Searington Road Public Library in January 2005, the Rockville Center Public Library in May 2005, as well as other venues later in the year.
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