James Siena, 1957. Lives in works in New York City.

It’s taken years for the stars to align, but we’ve finally begun a collaboration with American abstract painter and printmaker James Siena. Our first edition is a two-color lithograph with the French title “Saccades” – a sudden, jerky movement (in English, a ‘saccade’ is the rapid, simultaneous movement of both eyes). It is the first in what is intended to be a series of experiments we are currently undertaking in lithography, starting with five new images that are now being completed and editioned.

James is a perfect fit for the studio. Not only is he an accomplished printmaker, but his love of machines that don't use electricity – as a teenager, he built a bicycle out of parts and in his twenties, rode it from Barcelona to Italy, then from Barcelona to Paris – makes him an ideal partner for a print shop that works exclusively with hand presses. This prominent New York-based artist first came to public attention in the mid-1990s with abstract geometries of enamel sign paint on aluminum sheets. He is currently spending several months in France, which gives us the exciting opportunity to deepen our collaboration and explore new works in lithography, woodcut and etching. “Saccades” is a wonderful example of his complex geometric compositions, which are organized according to his own set of predetermined rules or "visual algorithms" while leaving room for the subtle presence of the artist's hand.