Professor Ron Abram’s identity as a gay man has a profound impact on the prints he makes, both in approach and scope.
He strives to connect the dots of sexuality, identity and culture past and present, while seeking meaning and retaining mystery and magic. Mixing popular imagery and personal symbolism, he explores the “low brow” traditions of printmaking using comics, cartoons, film, printed matter and erotica. He works in a number of processes including etching/intaglio, screenprinting, relief, photopolymer and risograph.
Over the course of 40 years, He has consistently exhibited his work in over 90 local, national and international exhibitions. Abram was a Semifinalist in The Print Center’s 91st ANNUAL International Competition, and a finalist in the 2024 98th Print Center International Competition and exhibited at The Print Center in group shows in 1987 and 1990. In 1995 he was included in Contemporary Prints from the USA, organized by The Print Center and shown in Riga, Latvia; Tallinn, Estonia; and Vilnius, Lithuania.
Other exhibitions include at Zygote Press, Cleveland, OH; Allegheny College, Meadville, PA; Taller Puertorriqueño, Philadelphia; Moon Gallery, Berry College, Rome, GA; and Print Santa Fe, Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, NM, Brandywine Workshop and Archives, Philadelphia PA, as well as 55 limited, BBA and RISE Berlin, all Berlin and Alte Feuerwache Loschwitz Gallery, Dresden, all Germany; and the Museum of the University of Guanajuato, Mexico.
Abram’s work has been included in multiple publications and is held in numerous collections including Moravian College, Bethlehem, PA; The Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC; and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY. He has had artist residencies at In Cahoots Residency, Petaluma, CA; Art Print Residence, Barcelona, Spain; Takt, Berlin; and Temple University, Rome, Italy, and in summer 2025, Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice, Italy teaches in Denison’s Queer Studies Program in addition to Visual Arts.
