Artist Statement: I am interested in images of men and what they reveal about male identity and presentation, psychology and spirituality. In my work, men both reveal and conceal, hiding behind masks and exploding in colorful displays. Male pride gives way to male beauty; male strength becomes vulnerability.
My prints are drawn from found photographs. I collect and sort images with an eye toward recurring gestures and poses, isolating them and putting them together in new contexts to suggest new meanings. The figures in my work may be seen as self- identification or commentary.
I draw and print the images using a subtractive technique. Then I add layers of bold pattern and color that both embellish and obscure the drawings. Printmaking provides a means to take apart images, recombine, and reassemble them and I incorporate some of the artifacts of the printing process. Instead of making editions, my experiments with color and composition are worked out through series of 4-12 unique monoprints.
Bio: Harold Lohner is an artist and font designer. He is Professor Emeritus of Art at The Sage Colleges and holds an MFA in printmaking from the University at Albany. He has been making and exhibiting his prints and other artworks regionally and nationally for over 30 years, and has been an artist in residence at Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, NY, Kala in Berkeley, CA, the Contemporary Artists Center in North Adams, MA., and the Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, AZ. He is also the proprietor of Harold’s Fonts, a digital type foundry. Harold lives in Phoenix and Albany with his husband, Al Martino.