This exhibition marks the fiftieth year of the organization of printmakers in the Philippines. Founded in 1968, the Printmakers Association of the Philippines paved the path for the acceptance of the art of the fine print in the country and the modes by which it becomes material: technique, technology, repertoire, subject, artistic vision, public reception, and critical evaluation.

The medium of print has constantly shifted in Philippine art history from the contexts of cartography to catechism, from commentary to modern and contemporary art. In every way it turned, the print was responsive to the demands of artistic expression and the urgencies of its social and cultural milieu. This is why this exhibition is not only confined to the work of the members of the organization, but opens itself up to all practitioners who are committed to the discipline and risk of the print.

"Tirada” is a term among printmakers that signifies a strike: to pull off or pull out a piece of work in a series of multiples. It also means effort and labor, a decisive action. It is a fitting term for this commemoration as the organization, which has recently morphed into the Association of Pinoyprintmakers, looks back at its history and its pioneers; revisits its archives and the lineages of practice; and reflects on the issues that confront the practice of printmaking.

In this vein, this exhibition is built around a range of concerns: the aesthetic integrity and intelligence of the work of the print and the status of the printmaker as an artist; the validity of appropriation within the artistic system of the print; the capacity of the print to respond to socio-political reality; the self-consciousness of the print as a medium; the place of the print in art history; and the processes by which the print plays out in the ecology of the popular.

Tirada honors the achievements of printmakers of varied persuasions and charts a course for the future of the art.