The Print Folio: Selections from the AAG Collection

In printmaking, the word “folio” is used in different but related contexts. It can refer to a series of individual leaves of paper or parchment, often numbered on the front side. These occur either loose or form part of a bound volume and produced in limited editions. “Folio” also pertains to a container or a box, often archival in quality, as a recommended option to properly care for unframed prints.

Printmaking, one of the earliest forms of visual expression, is known for its ability to produce editions. Among its basic processes are serigraphy, woodcut, lithography and intaglio techniques such as etching. Artists have welcomed more recent processes such as offset lithography, photography, and digital printing as ways of producing folios in higher numbers of multiple editions.

The featured folios in this exhibit vary in form and intent. Some are by a single artist and designed as a set such as the works of Varujan Boghosian, Lee Aguinaldo, and Arturo Luz. Rod. Paras-Perez, like Boghosian, was inspired by classical text but created a suite of woodcut prints primarily as illustrations to accompany the epic poem Florante at Laura by Francisco Baltazar. A print folio is also an ideal format to bring together a group of artists often for a commemorative or fund-raising project such as those produced by the Fukuoka Art Museum in 1989 and Art in the Park in 2016 for the benefit of the Museum Foundation of the Philippines.

Inspired by classical texts, both Boghosian and Paras-Perez had a close affinity to woodcut and highlighted on its unique surface and textural qualities. The folio of contemporary prints from 14 Asian countries, released in a limited edition of 100, reveal the many possibilities of combining and experimenting different printmaking techniques which are common in contemporary art practice.

Lined in fabric or archival paper and even embellished, the boxes afford flexibility in storage and allow for easy handling. Moreover, like its contents, print folio boxes are collectible works of art themselves.