Jason Archer exhibits new print

MARFA- Sometimes things don’t work out exactly how you plan. Last year, Austin based artist Jason Archer had big plans to debut a new body of work in Marfa during Chinati Open House Weekend. The collection he’d worked on for months featured juxtapositions of characters and images from films famous for their West Texas connections. He titled his work “The Marfa Mash-Up”.  Archer got an early read on the designs for this set of prints by circulating early versions among his inner circle of designers, directors, curators and printmakers in New York, Los Angeles and Texas. By far, the image that drew the biggest response (which for Archer’s work means a loud guffaw) was a print titled “Don’t Touch Anything”. The Marfa mash up was a smash up success.

Operating out of what some Marfa locals affectionately refer to as “the old Quaid Place” in downtown Marfa, Archer’s work delighted patrons and much of this collection sold during the first two days in the gallery. New works were happily packed and shipped on the spot, sent to new homes across the country.

Sadly, Don’t Touch Anything never made it to the party. Back in Austin, just days before the show, “Don’t Touch Anything” proved a formidable challenge for the print maker Satch Grimley.

A white-on-white image is a formidable challenge for any printmaker. Grimley, of Red Bluff Studios, did not settle for letting this halftone nightmare elude him.

One day he called Jason and said, “It’s done,” overcoming the laws of printmaking to produce the unprintable print.

Only five archival prints have been created.

“Don’t Touch Anything” will be released Friday, October 5 at 203 W. Texas street during Chinati Open House Weekend in Marfa.

Archer will also release a new body of work, titled “Camp Capitol Hill” over the course of the weekend. This group of prints depicts US politicians as sleep-away summer campers. “Camp Capitol Hill” will exhibit at Super!Alright! in Austin during EAST. Get your guffaws ready; “Camp Capitol Hill” doesn’t pull any punches.