Petzel is pleased to present a new series of prints combining woodcut and lithographic processes by artist duo Zorawar Sidhu and Rob Swainston, as part of the gallery’s The Viewing Room series on view from April 4 through April 11 at 520 West 25th Street. With exceptional expertise in the history of printmaking and mastery of the woodcut process, Sidhu and Swainston bring a distinctive sensibility to their collaborative practice—their meticulous technique building layers of tonal values into compositions of remarkable complexity and depth. Drawing on historical engraving traditions including the 18th century illustrated natural history volumes of Thomas Bewick, these new prints examine animals within the context of the Anthropocene, exploring the shifting relationships between human industry, animal life, and the visual systems through which “nature” is understood and represented.

Sidhu and Swainston depict animals such as pigeons, owls, pigs, rats, and monkeys as they appear within human-made environments, considering  the often “unnatural” ways humans interact with animals: as urban cohabitants, scientific test subjects, and food commodities. In Owl, 2026, a great horned owl looms against a backdrop of glowing city towers—evoking Flaco, the beloved Eurasian eagle-owl who escaped from the Central Park Zoo in 2023 and became a symbol of wildness persisting within the urban grid. In another print, Pig, 2026, a pig’s head oscillates between farm animal and a political caricature of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent, referencing a long history of protest imagery in which the pig has served as a critique of power and authority. Across these layered compositions, the artists examine how urbanization reshapes animal habitats while revealing how animals circulate through culture as symbols as much as through ecosystems as living beings.

Central to the series is an engagement with inherited visual histories of nature. Sidhu and Swainston reference the engravings of Thomas Bewick, whose illustrated volumes such as History of Quadrupeds (1790) and History of British Birds (1797–1804) helped establish enduring visual conventions for representing animals. Adapting engraving techniques associated with Bewick’s innovations, the artists layer historical imagery with contemporary references, reflecting on how our understanding of the natural world is mediated through books, zoos, cities, and screens rather than direct encounters with the wild. In this context, animals appear suspended between scientific illustration and spectacle—figures encountered as images and symbols as much as living creatures.

The artists' material choices further reinforce these themes. Their use of plywood—derived from trees but reconstituted through industrial production—serves as a material analogue for the broader transformations of the Anthropocene, mirroring the ways animals are shaped by systems of agribusiness, scientific testing, and spectacle. Building on strategies developed in earlier bodies of work, Sidhu and Swainston continue to examine printmaking's historical role in the circulation of images, information, and political ideas, revealing a world in which the boundaries between the natural and the constructed have become increasingly indistinct.

Coinciding with this presentation, Sidhu and Swainstonwill be joined in conversation with Lauren Rosenblum, The Print Center Philadelphia’s Jensen Bryan Curator, on Saturday, April 11, 2026, at 4pm, at Petzel. RSVP is required as space is limited; please email press@petzel.com to reserve your seat.

Additionally, Sidhu and Swainston will be exhibiting at the Brooklyn Fine Art Print Fair from April 9–12, 2026, at Powerhouse Arts in Brooklyn.

The Viewing Room series spotlights specially curated works across media and genre by gallery artists, open to the public for a limited time. The series continues through 2026, with presentations coinciding with programming such as book signings, artist talks, and screenings, to be announced.

 
ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Zorawar Sidhu & Rob Swainston, both living and working in New York City, are a collaborative art duo exploring the intersection of historical print processes with contemporary technologies. Their projects investigate the complexities of contemporary social issues by drawing from the history of print as the medium par excellence of social movements. They have exhibited together at the Hall Art Foundation, Reading (2024); University at Buffalo Anderson Gallery, Buffalo (2024); Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin (2024); Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, Portland (2023); Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington, Arlington (2023); The Patricia and Philip Frost Art Museum, Miami (2023); Syracuse University Art Museum, Syracuse (2023); United States Department of State, Washington, D.C. (2023); Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton (2023); among others.

Sidhu and Swainston’s collaborative work is included in the collections of the Art Museum of West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia ; Hall Collection, Reading, Vermont; Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, Portland, Oregon; Mead Art Museum, Amherst, Massachusetts; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York; New York Public Library, New York, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany; and the Syracuse University Art Museum, Syracuse, New York.