A proficient printmaker, Arthur Lawrence (Art) Werger has pushed various techniques beyond the norm. Using the color etching process, he has produced shimmering images of swimmers under water, and his mezzotints of urban landscapes from a bird’s-eye-view are very distinctive. He has explained the latter: “From the elevated position, the environment lays out flat in front of the viewer. The viewer is privy to the world below, yet curiously removed from it. As a cinematic device, this abstract angle allows for an overview of the scene as well as an introduction to the characters within the environment.”
Werger was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey, not far from New York City. As a youth, his mother took him into Manhattan, no doubt the source of some of his inspiration. In 1978 he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Rhode Island School of Design in Providence with a specialty in printmaking. He pursued his Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin and completed it four years later. Immediately afterward he took a position at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, where he remained for eighteen years, emerging eventually as Fine Arts Division Chair and Professor of Art. In 2000 he moved on to Ohio University in Athens where he held various roles as chair of the printmaking area, assistant director of foundations, and professor. He retired in 2020.
Like most printmakers, Werger has preferred subject matter that is representational. According to him: “I’ve always been interested in working realistically and representationally, but the challenge was to do something different, to reinvigorate the style.” He has achieved this goal successfully with his technical finesse, whether working with etching, aquatint, or mezzotint, and sometimes printing with multi-plate colors. Occasionally he has indulged in double exposures, and has explained his motivation: “I am attempting to create an image which requires some sorting out in order to be understood. In my personal history, I have found that the random juxtaposition of remembered events creates a resonant emotional trigger. I hope to implant the seed for this type of a psychological reaction in the viewer’s mind. This is intended to suggest a narrative which ultimately requires the viewer’s participation.”