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Cutting Edge

November 2017
Originally published in the Improper Bostonian

See it in Print

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Straddling the line between digital and tactile, German printmaker Christiane Baumgartner first uses her camera to take photos or videos and then transforms the stills by hand-carving them into wood. Rather than choosing between modern technology and traditional art forms, Baumgartner seamlessly blends the two, down to the horizontal lines that mimic her often found grainy source images. With woodcuts depicting roadways and military cargo planes, her work focuses on themes of motion and speed—though her process is anything but quick: Transall, the Museum of Fine Art’s most recent (and massive) acquisition, took Baumgartner 10 months to complete and measures 14 feet long. Go see what other four pieces made the cut through May 28.