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Intaglio & relief print, H 42 1/2 in x W 29 1/2 in

artwork: copyright Carlos Amorales & Highpoint Editions, 2010

 works primarily with paper silhouettes, cutting out images of birds, spiders, and people in blacks, reds, and grays and then combining them in ways that resonate and intrigue. He's also created animated videos using his silhouettes, much as noted American artist 

has done. But in Amorales' hands the images become an exploration of Mexican history, class and culture.

 Cole Rogers saw in Amorales the makings of a great print artist.

Rogers paid a visit to Amorales' studio in Mexico and invited him to collaborate with Highpoint on a series of prints. Amorales would come up with the images, and it would be Highpoint's charge to translate those images to ink and paper.

Little did Rogers know what he was getting himself into.

Intaglio & relief print, H 60 in x W 40 1/2 in

The prints which now hang on the walls of Highpoint's gallery represent months of work; some individual prints took three days to make, running the same paper through the press over and over again. But Rogers says it's undeniably been worth it; he's incredibly pleased with the beauty of the show:

Amorales' style of working is very playful; sometimes he would simply shake up a box full of plastic silhouettes, open the lid and say "there, that's what I want to print." Other times he would take an image in Photoshop and copy it over and over again, with the click of a mouse. It was Rogers who then had to figure out how to create the same image with ink on paper.

Intaglio & relief print, H 48 in x W 36 in

Part of that collaboration, Rogers says, involves helping each other to see with new eyes.

For his part, Rogers was coaxed from saying "No, we can't do that - that's impossible" in response to certain ideas to "okay, we'll give it a try."

So why does Rogers go to all the trouble helping artists bring their ideas to life on the printed page? He says he enjoys the challenge.

In exchange, he says, the artist comes away with something he or she might never have otherwise done, which may lead them down new paths in the future.

Amorales is currently extremely busy, with simultaneous shows in Mexico, Zurich, Amersterdam, Rome, New York and Minneapolis. He's set to come to town in mid-November to see his digital ideas brought to life, hanging on Highpoint's gallery walls. Rogers says he imagines it will be akin to an author getting to hold his beautifully bound book for the first time.

 runs through November 20 at Highpoint Center for Prinmaking in Minneapolis.

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