Ball Court #2 by Dean Meeker

Ball Court #2 is from a series of works Meeker did of ruins from Mexico, Central, and South America in the late 1960s and early 70s. This depicts a wall from a Mayan Ball Court where the game, juego de pelota was played. Over 1300 of these courts are known, the largest in the famous city of Chichen Itza, but almost every Mayan city has one. The site of this court is not given. Meeker focuses on the snake head which is represents the mythology of the game. Snakes came from the blood of one of the brothers that invented the game and represents fertility. A circular goal is depicted in the middle distance.
This is a very typical work from this period. Meeker is using a printing technique he invented called Serigraph Polymer-Intaglio which is described below. He applied this to a number of subjects, but found it particularly effective in his works on archeological sites from Europe and the Americas.
Dean Meeker 1920-2002
Dean Meeker was born in Colorado. He moved east to study at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he completed both a B.F.A. and M.F.A. in painting with a 2-year interruption in his studies to serve with the American Army in WWII. While his degrees are in painting, he had exposure to printmaking at the Art Institute, and, while working during college, he was involved in silk screening at an advertising agency.
Dean Meeker is one of our favorite artists, as he is a true Wisconsin treasure. After receiving his M.F.A, he moved to the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he spent his entire career working his way up from instructor in 1946 to Professor Emeritus upon his retirement in 1992, a tenure of 46 years. He continued to live in Madison until his death. During his tenure the University of Wisconsin-Madison was recognized as one of the top schools for graphic arts in the country. While the list of luminaries associated with the school is extensive, the presence of Meeker throughout the latter half of the 20th century contributed greatly to the reputation of the school. The book, Progressive Printmakers: Wisconsin Artists and the Print Renaissance provides an excellent overview of many of the outstanding artists during this period.
Another reason for our attraction to his work is our mutual admiration of the work of Paul Klee. To quote from the website http://www.deanmeekerstudios.com/ “He found his motivating interest in art reflected in the Paul Klee quote “Art is Process” - that one discovers principles through exploration, rather than allowing known principles to limit the work.” He demonstrated the commitment to process by pushing the boundaries of serigraphy and intaglio printing in innovative directions. He developed a novel printmaking technique using a combination of polymer plate relief prints (intaglios) and screen printing. The resulting process allows the construction of prints that have a three-dimensional surface. The intensity and depth of the images created using this method is astounding. This technique was so novel that it required the development of an entirely new type of press which he developed in conjunction with the engineer John McFee (a neighbor) which now bears their names, the Meeker-McFee motorized etching press. Legend has it that they came up with the idea over a bottle of wine. How civilized. A detailed description of the process is on the Dean Meeker Studios website and the interested reader is recommended to visit the site.
In recognition of his groundbreaking techniques, in 1958 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to study European printmaking. This primarily took place at the highly influential Atelier 17 in Paris where he met his friend and sometimes collaborator Kaiko Moti. While in Europe he traveled extensively observing prints across Europe. He produced many works that show the influence of this trip. In contrast to his groundbreaking techniques, his subject matter is mostly presented in a representational style. It covers a broad range of topics including figures, literary themes, mythology, architecture (particularly archeological sites), and botanical (although these are rendered in a more abstract way). His work is recognized internationally and is held in multiple collections most notably, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, (all in New York), the National Gallery of Art and Smithsonian Institution, (Washington, D.C.), the Milwaukee Art Center, the Walker Art Center, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The artist is the subject of an excellent, if somewhat worshipful book by Jack Leissring, Art is Process.

Size: 1960s
Price: $350
Size: 30.75 x 23 inches
Plate Size: 26 x 18 inches
Condition: Pristine
Medium: Serigraph
Subject: Architecture & Cityscape

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