Master printmaker and painter Dan Welden talks process at Gallery 90

Throughout his long career, Dan Welden has worn many hats. Educator, master printmaker, painter, and collaborator with some of the most recognizable contemporary artists—Elaine and Willem de Kooning, Eric Fischl, David Salle, Kiki Smith—and with over 100 solo exhibitions and numerous awards—including most recently a prestigious Pollack-Krasner Award—he has been a recognizable presence, and part of a cohort of printmakers reshaping the focus of the East End arts scene.

On Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, he debuted a portfolio of new work in his “Aesop’s’ Fables” series, using the “hybrid” method that combines printing and painting, and which he has come to embrace as his work has evolved over time. The result is a series of boldly original statements that combine the two in unique and surprising ways, producing work he describes as “more painterly” than a standard print.

As Welden tells it, serendipity played a significant part in his “Aesop’s Fables” series.

A chance trip to survey an abandoned artists’ colony led to his discovery of 22 zinc plates that had been left to corrode over time. The combined effects of time and salt air had left their mark, creating scored surfaces. The owner had invited him to look around the place in case there was anything left of value. Among the remains he found a small Rembrandt etching. The owner rewarded his find, telling him he was free to take anything he wanted of what was left. The plates had a story to tell and he leaned in to give them a hearing.

Using 450-gram European etching paper, an auger tool and a broomstick, he set about adding lines to the already existing marks created by deterioration.  He began the edition with 100 pieces of paper, producing 11 sets of mirror images from 22 plates, printing them first in black, then layering each with color.

He chose to name the series after the early stories where animals act in opposition to each other, standing in for humans and their foibles.

Today, the series is a continuing effort, the latest of which he showed to the gathering at the gallery. Their whimsical names—”Amazon Pigtails,” “Hippo Ballet,” “Crocodile in White Satin,” “Orthodox Coyote,” and “Flammable Waffle”—are a reminder that the artist never takes himself too seriously, and brings a continuous sense of fun to his work. Nevertheless, these images combine the key elements of Welden’s mature work: experimentation, opalescent visuals, whimsy and discovery.

For him, the process is a journey, with his guide, a creative force “that sometimes has a mind of its own.”

Dan Welden “A Decade of Impressions and Alex Ferrone Gallery,” Cutchogue, N.Y.Oct. 31 – Nov. 22, 2026

Reception Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, 5 – 7 p.m.