Sol LeWitt. Small Etchings/Black & White No. 2, 1999. Hard ground etching. Image Size: 4 x 4", Paper Size: 8 x 8". Edition Size: 20. Printer: Case Hudson. Image via Crown Point Press.

Intaglio prints often look reserved because the process of making them is precisely sequential, with acid baths, scratching into grounds, and paper placement. In books they are perfectly self-contained. Maybe that’s why there aren’t many Expressionistic prints—there isn’t much room for emotive gestures, and if they exist, they are diluted with translation and procedure. In Crown Point Press’ “Small Gems: A Winter Group Show,” Tom Marioni, Sol LeWitt, and Richard Tuttle’s works are about lolling around in Conceptualism and Minimalism’s infinite interpretations and metaphors; they are little pieces with delicate lines. It’s the kind of art you vibe to.

Chris Ofili. Rainbow-Yellow Day Dreamer, 2008. Spit bite aquatint with drypoint printed in orange on yellow gampi paper chine collé. Image Size: 11 x 7" Paper Size: 20 x 15". Edition Size: 10. Publisher: Crown Point Press. Printer: Catherine Brooks. Image via Crown Point Press.

Eric Fischl. Untitled, 1988. Color woodcut. Image Size: 9½ x 10½". Paper Size: 17 x 16½". Edition Size: 200. Publisher: Crown Point Press. Image via Crown Point Press.

Aquatints by Chris Ofili and a woodcut by Eric Fischl make you want to take your clothes off and get in the pool. Ofili based his prints off of photographs of hikes he took to waterfalls in Trinidad viewed on a laptop, but in their color and vague imagery they feel like free-associations on being adventurous (Magical Secrets). Everything Fischl makes has a common and free sexuality like a John Updike novel. Both of their work is visceral to the degree that Marioni and LeWitt are intellectual. This is the perfect approach to a group show, which are often mistakenly held together with a shared tonality. Contrast is all people ever want from art, in dissonant concepts, and not-quite-perfect handskills. The print process isn’t inherently restrained, it’s just frequently employed by measured people. Sometimes the print is more free than a painting.

Chris Ofili. Rainbow-Red Cave, 2008. Spit bite aquatint with flat bite etching and drypoint printed in red. Image Size: 11 x 7" Paper Size: 20 x 15". Edition Size: 10. Publisher: Crown Point Press. Printer: Catherine Brooks. Image via Crown Point Press.

“Small Gems: A Winter Group Show” is on view at Crown Point Press’ gallery through March 9, 2013.

-Kendall George