Since first observing several lithographs by Picasso in 1950, artist Garo Antreasian has largely devoted himself to lithography, determined not only to give the medium more prominence in the world of printmaking but also to make it rival the high status of painting. In this hard- edge work, Antreasian employs the grid, a device traditionally used by modern artists to emphasize the two-dimensional surface of painting. Ironically, however, this grid embossed into the paper possesses real depth as it rises off the surface. In contrast, the flat colored dots at intersecting points in the grid create an illusion of depth through shifts in scale: smaller dots appear distant. In addition to these innovative responses to Modernist forms, the work suggests cosmic imagery—the colored dots float like celestial bodies in the vast blackness of space. The rational structure and systematic distribution of primary colors suggest the precise clockwork of a Newtonian universe.
–When We Were Young: Rethinking Abstraction From The University At Albany Art Collections (1967-Present)