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Volume B1. Number 7 September 1962 Founded 1902
ARTnews

NEW EDITIONS
ZARINA HASHMI imbues cast paper with an importance rarely encountered in this sometimes problematic medium. Not that the work is self-important, or pretentious—it just isn't cute, and that's an achievement. Looking a bit like thick rectangular cork boards or incised stone tablets, Hashmi's cast multiples contain repeated, but not uniform, patterns. Traces contains rows of a simple motif that looks alternately like a series of houses, a series of the letter "Y" or arches—all of which suggest meaningful inscriptions or archetypes. While the depressions look as through they were carved with a knife, they are actually made from a mold formed out of odd pieces of plexiglass hoarded from Canal Street stores by this Indian-born artist who makes her home in New York. The unevenness of the straight lines and of the individual shapes within the pattern constitutes an almost playful, teasing attitude toward the skill Hashmi displays and [[text cut off by hole punch]] the sheer beauty of the cast. Traces, like the other cast pieces, is colored all the way through with ground pigment. Its color is a natural red earth shade that leads her to nickname the work "Terra Rosa." While there is no metallic element in the pigment, the entire piece—which is the color—seems to shine with a kind of inner glow. 
Hashmi's cast paper is able to sustain a strong image in a unique format. Far from looking gimmicky, Traces makes other cast paper efforts—most of which are brightly colored and childishly molded—look like flashes in the pan. A work like this causes one to reassess the function and capabilities of paper as well as the meaning of such words as casting and sculpture and relief. It is an edition of 15. Cast by the artist, New York, 1982. Distributed by Orion Editions, New York. 

The Print Collector's Newsletter
Vol. XII No. 4 September-October 1981

Zarina, One Morning the City Was Golden (1981), an etching signed and numbered by the artist in an edition of 35. Each print is 23-1/2x20 in. (plate size) and 28x24 in. (paper size) and was printed on Zaan paper by the artist in New York. Rows of house with pitched roofs—a pattern of lines printed in gold powder mixed by the artist—cover the sheet. Zarina's best print, by far. Price $275. Copublished by the artist and Orion Editions, New York.