MASKS REQUIRED*
Disappearing Lines
Benson Campus Galleries
Disappearing Lines is an exhibition of prints made by Roberta Restaino. Restaino reimagines ancient printmaking processes as a forum for contemporary discussions of technology and nature. She also incorporates contemporary processes, such as laser woodcutting, and contemporary materials, such as mylar, to carry images of cells. Bioengineering, cyberspace, and algorithms currently create a virtual space that has become seminal to human life. She demonstrates the impact of technology on natural evolution and her belief that “We are in a certain way changing our evolution.” She reimagines the most basic biological elements of cells, embryos, and fertilization with playful imagery and engaging color.
In her appreciation of our quickly evolving virtual world as it coexists with biological life, she finds no limitations in art processes. She embraces innovation in process using laser woodcuts and reinterprets prints as large installations of multiples. “Interchange-able Camouflage” contains multiple drypoint prints that wrap around a corner without the confinement of mats and frames. “Dentro una Cellula” is another large-scaled grouping of prints, some incorporating three dimensional, pop up elements. Each of her experimentations seem to be a starting point for another discovery and platform. According to Restaino, “I investigate the ‘disappearing’ line between new technological processes and nature.”
Restaino, originally from Italy, moved to South Carolina from Colorado to join Greenville Tech’s Department of Visual Arts in the fall of 2020 as a full-time instructor. She earned a BFA from the Academy of Fine Arts (Accademia di Belle Arti), Rome and an MFA from the University of Colorado Boulder where she also taught Printmaking and Foundations. Her work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions across the globe. Her work is included in a number of public and private collections including UNESCO, Italy; Stara Zagora Art Gallery, Bulgaria; Centro de Arte Faro Cabo Mayor, Spain; and the SGC International Print Collection at the Zuckerman Museum of Art, Georgia, United States.
Currently on exhibit with Disappearing Lines are also 40 other prints made by 39 artists from two portfolio exchanges, “Necessary Duplicates” and “The Laser Printmaker.” Restaino has generously allowed the Benson Galleries to also display these two portfolio exchanges from her collection.
Disappearing Lines is on view in Greenville Technical College’s Benson Campus Galleries. The Benson Campus Galleries are operated by and for the faculty and students of the Department of Visual Arts at Greenville Technical College. The galleries are located at 2522 Locust Hill Road, Taylors, SC, 29687 and are open to the public Monday – Friday, 8:00am to 5:00pm. Face coverings are required on campus.
For more information contact:
Fleming Markel
Gallery Director
Patrick Owens
Gallery Assistant
864-250-3051