My passion for printmaking techniques is multifold. Even though printmaking techniques continue to advance into the digital age, I’m particular about hand-drawn and hand-pulled outputs rather than digital media. The physical connection of my body to the prints allows for more direct expression and nuances during the creative process. It is also my belief that hand generated media is a more effective way of appealing to my audience. Throughout my career, especially during my time as a printmaker, I have been frequently exposed to a multitude of toxic materials involved in the processes required in printmaking that I know have adverse effects on our health and our environment. It has led me to question more broadly how our individual actions and choices might impact our collective society and future well-being. I feel it is essential to explore safer and more innovative ways to print regardless of the processes – lithography, etching or relief. It is in this sprit, in recent years I have focused my art on social, environmental and political issues I feel the world needs to focus on. I am concerned for the well-being of animals/humans and resonate with their reactions to the chaos and struggles in this society. My message is simple – “what goes around, comes around”. I use ironic and whimsical interpretations to show that the crises we are creating in the world keep coming back to haunt us. My work seeks to generate questions and conversations that provoke consciousness and awareness of social and environmental issues that can otherwise be easily ignored. Through images I create, I examine the intricate interrelationship between a materiality that both deteriorates and ameliorates the condition of the world. I am fueled by my own empathy toward all living creatures as well as the terrors that threaten our own kind.
About Rie Hasagawa:
Rie Hasegawa was born in Tokyo, Japan. She received her B.F.A in architecture design from Musashino Art University in 1993. She worked as a painter for a Stage Company before moving to NYC in 2000. She works in a variety of print media including intaglio, relief print, lithograph and monoprint. Her work in printmaking has been locally and internationally exhibited over twenty years. Rie’s work can be found in the collections of Yale University Art Gallery, New York Public Library, Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Harry Ransom Center among others and various private collections. Rie has also been featured in multiple international newspapers and publications such as Carrier Pigeon Magazine and Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun. Rie currently works as a master printer and workshop technician at EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop and has taught various printmaking classes/workshops at New York Academy of Art, MoMA’s education center, Women’s Studio Workshop, Whitney museum teen programs among others. As a master printer she has collaborated on editions and provided technical assistance to over 70 artists. Artist collaborators include Zarina Hashmi and Alexandra Bell.
