Dos Tres Press

Dos Tres Press is a printshop in south Philadelphia, founded by master printer Alexis Nutini. The studio specialises in rigorous experimentation with relief printmaking techniques through hand-carved, reduction woodblock printing, as well as the digital technology of plate-making with Computer Numerical Control (CNC) routing. Alexis focuses on one-of-a-kind impressions and developing collaborative print-based projects with international and local artists, as well as Philadelphia organisations. Dos Tres Press is committed to the local community and invites others to actively participate and learn through workshops, demonstrations, and the mentorship of aspiring printmakers.

Born in Mexico City, Alexis received an MFA in Printmaking from the Tyler School of Art in 2005, a BA in Fine Art from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 2000, and completed a Fulbright Fellowship in Barcelona, Spain in 2001. He also teaches as an Adjunct Professor at the Tyler School of Art.

Alexis is a woodcut specialist who primarily focuses on intuitive monoprint printing sessions. “Although I respect the trade of printing editions (which I often do for other artists and sometimes myself), I prefer to constantly have the exiting moment of lifting up the paper and experiencing the unique combination of my colours and blocks,” says the printmaker. He uses a CNC router to produce blocks of all sizes, and often hand carves into these machine-made blocks, especially when using reductive techniques. “I like to revisit old projects and combine new blocks with prints from many years ago” comments Alexis, thus always uses blocks that are ¾ inch high so that he can seamlessly work back and forth between old and new blocks.

“Early on as a student, I was heavily influenced by the graphic force of the prints made by German expressionists and Mexican printmakers like Leopoldo Mendez and Jose Guadalupe Posada” describes Alexis. For many years, he worked monochromatically due to this influence. As he started to develop into a colourist, his work became inspired by the op art of Bridget Riley, Victor Vasarely, and Carlos Cruz-Diez, as well as the colour experiments of Albers and Itten.

“As I have matured and focused as a colour printer, I’ve realised how much growing up in Mexico influenced my colour sensibility. Trips with my parents to Mexico City and other important Mexican capitals always included visits to see the colourful and didactic murals”. Today, Alexis continues to visit Mexico and his childhood home in Veracruz state. Aside from visiting, galleries, murals, and museums, his research also includes visiting craft and food markets; “The brilliant colours of the painted wood objects and textiles are elements that I often think about. Sometimes, simply walking around any small town or city can be generative by simply taking in the bold colours of the painted houses and buildings as well as all the hand painted signs that abound there”.

The other part of his practice is collaborating with artists and serving as a master printer, to which he takes the same approach as he does with his prints. When making blocks on the CNC with content from another artist, Alexis still influences the outcome of the series with his colour sensibility. He states; “I tend to be careful with whom I print with to ensure a true collaboration and not just production of a traditional edition”. For these projects, Alexis mainly collaborates with Brandywine Workshop and Archives (a diversity driven institution in Philadelphia that has been publishing prints and giving artists from diverse backgrounds opportunities and a platform to share their work since the 70’s). This partnership with Brandywine has allowed Alexis to work with a broad range of artists, both local and at large. Collaborations of note include his work with world-renowned painter Sam Gilliam on several series of prints. Brandywine also has an artist in residency program that brings in artists to work with their master printers and create editions. Because of his CNC digital process, Alexis is able to continue to work remotely with this year’s selected artists.

Looking to the future, Alexis hopes to expand his reach beyond the US and Mexico with shows, workshops, and collaborations; “I feel like I’ve been mainly focusing on Philadelphia and my trips to Mexico and not expanding to other places. Part of that is being a parent of a young child but as he gets older and becomes more independent I’m sure it will happen. With the digital capabilities of my printshop, and all of us getting used to communicating virtually, I would like to think I’ll end up working on editions and series with artists all over the world”.

www.alexisnutini.com
@dos_tres_press

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