Dieter Roth

Wrapper by Dieter Roth abstract pink unique one of a kind print with shimmer

1971

Rainbow shades shine in delicate clusters of vertical lines, in this abstract, geometric lithograph. Vibrant yellow, green, magenta pink, blue and brown take on the organic quality o...

Düsseldorf (German Cities), 1970 24 x 33.8 in. / 61 x 86 cm Screen print in one color on offset lithograph, black on white card. “for Paul” written in pencil lower middle. Signed and...

Dieter Roth Goodbye Sharpie, 1972 44.5 x 54.3 / 113 x 138 cm Planographic printing from zinc, white on dyed grey card Edition of 30, this copy marked "Artist's Copy" and annotated II/IV Dieter Roth was a printmaker from childhood: his first etching at the age of 16 was scratched into a soda can, and despite the failure of the can to print anything but a shadow of ink, he continued his study and by 20 was a serious apprentice in lithography to a well-known commercial artist, Eugen Jordi. Later he would continue to print and publish much of his own work. From the 1960s onward, his collaborations with Petersburg Press brought him international recognition and produced some of his most celebrated work: Six Piccadillies (1970), and Containers (1972). Interested in chance and spontaneity, Roth was drawn to make prints using unorthodox means: according to mathematical principles, using equations, or by randomly rearranging blocks before they were run through the press. The artist often printed plates repeatedly in different colors, producing many variations from just a few images. He used the printing press and materials to interrogate the creative process rather than just as tools to achieve an edition of identical prints: for example, overprinting or under-inking, or running objects through the press (in 1968, a box of chocolates). Roth was not just interested in the chance of making pictures but the unpredictability of decay: allowing the grease from slices of meat to slowly contaminate paper, immersing a print in vegetable juice, clamping metal to paper to produce rust, and pouring chocolate over a finished work. Roth would make hundreds of print editions and books over his career and blurred the line between genres and mediums, embarking on prodigious collaborations and experimentation with music, poetry...

This shimmering, metallic vintage poster with rainbow text and layers of texture must be seen in person to appreciate Frank Stella's masterful design. Original exhibition poster for...