Serigraphs by Jeffrey Sax

From his studio/gallery at 807 Cannery Row, Monterey, CA. Jeffrey Sax has been producing and selling his work to a worldwide audience. His serigraphs from the 1980's were hand printed, one color at a time, by master printers (primarily David Smith of Seriphics). Edition series were usually limited to 500 prints (or less) and there are no originals. The artist working with a photographer created transparent overlays which were then burned onto screens by the printer. This integrity factor combined with the artistry has earned him representation in museums alongside artists like Warhol, Picasso, and Raushenberg...

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Panda
5-color Serigraph
24 X 35 Inches
100% Cotton Paper
500 Limited Edition
50 Artists Proofs
Published in 1985
Printer: Panda Press

While reading about large vegetarian animals Jeffrey Sax came across the little publicized fact that Teddy Roosevelt killed Pandas on a hunting trip to China. The killed bears were brought back to New York City where they were stuffed and presented in diarama's at the Natural History Museum. They were instantly popular and the first "Teddy Bears" were born. This serigraph represents a role reversal. The Panda is holding a doll-like child as a child would hold a cherished toy. The ideal is that the bear will not hurt the child (doll) and when the child grows up, it will not hurt the bear. A theme of mutual respect between man and animal, (Vegetarian) and East and West, (Political and Cultural). The characters in the upper left are Chinese for "White Bear" balanced out by the western letters for Panda. In 1985 with the help of art publisher David Perlmutter, Jeffrey Sax bought a printing press and set up shop. This serigraph is the first and only print that Panda Press completed.

The Cannery Row Series

This set of prints represent a passage of time, an era, on a street named Cannery Row, in Monterey, California. It has a beginning, middle, and end. -sax

#1 Cannery Row
(beginning)
6-Color Serigraph
100% cotton paper
200 Limited Edition
small number of artists proofs (without sea gull)
Dated: 1984
Printer: Art Montgomery

#1 Cannery Row-Jeffrey Sax opened his studio/gallery on Cannery Row in 1982. During that time and several years before, the old derelict fish canneries were the day and nighttime haunts of artists, passionate drinkers, young lovers, students, and various other adventures. One had to merely push their way through a cracked door to enter, at your own risk, a world of abandoned industrial decay and beauty. The old conveyor belts were rusted and scattered, roofs were blown off, and large holes in cement floors revealed the pounding surf 20 feet below. These former slaughterhouses of fish were now themselves being consumed by the sea. It was a place where time stood still... Behind this pink facade was a world left alone... a time of reflection... This was one of the first self-published serigraphs the artist commissioned from Art Montgomery, using a moped as a down payment. A small number of artist's proofs are missing the sea gull through the window. One year after publication this print found its way into a show at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Jeffrey Sax was one of the few living artists represented amongst such notables as Picasso, Warhol, Che'ret, Arthur Rackham, to name a few.

#2 Old Row Cafe
(middle)
7-Color Serigraph
100% cotton paper
475 Limited Edition
small number of artists proofs with grey leading
Dated: 1986
Printer: Seriphics

#2 Old Row Cafe-This restaurant was below the artists Studio/Gallery. Joe Rombi had started small and was growing with the times. It was when small business people were converting the old canneries into retail adventures. Joe's dad, Grank, salvaged old tin siding and nailed sardine cans to the roof for ambience. Tourists were coming to see John Stienbeck's dramatized version of Cannery Row, only to find an eclectic group of small businesses, including a pillow theater that jutted out over the bay, and the usual remains of the old canneries. Every summer a small marijuana plant would sprout in the planter box. It was fun to see how large it would get before someone would discover and pluck it.

#3 Cannery Row 10/31/84
(end)
7-Color Serigraph
100% cotton paper
620 Limited Edition
Dated: 1988
Printer: Seriphics

#3 Cannery Row 10/31/84-By 1984 the Monterey Bay Aquarium (40 million dollars) was at one end of the Row, and The Monterey Plaza Hotel (60 million dollars) was on the other. Developers were gobbling up the spaces in between. The abandoned canneries had many bouts with mysterious fires, all the while the city was trying to decide the merits of their historical value. This image of a bulldozer about to demolish one of the last original canneries, after a suspicious fire, signals the end of an era... A time after the reckless slaughter of fish, romanticized in the intensely human and colorful novels by John Stienbeck... and a time before the corporate commercialism of Cannery Row. It was an era of inner reflection set against a backdrop of quiet abandon...

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