Painter Michael Berkhemer lives and works in Amsterdam. His paintings consist of large color fields created with many layers and textures of paint. At Island Press, he worked with master printer Maryanne Ellison Simmons to make large, layered color field prints similar in imagery to his paintings. To create even color, Berkhemer spread the ink with rollers onto multiple plates, and then fit the plates onto the paper like a puzzle. He printed new colors on top of existing ones, thus creating layers of color. As with his paintings, Berkhemer left visible in the margin pencil lines, ink marks, and other traces of the creative process. The prints that Berkhemer created at Island Press in March 1999 are the first works he has ever made or shown in the United States.

From the extended texts for
Island Press: Innovation at Washington University
An exhibition held at the Washington University Gallery of Art, January 2000