The detailed lines of a Durer engraving or the delicately balanced composition of a Hokusai woodblock might be the first thing to come to mind when asked to define printmaking, but the concept of printmaking extends far beyond engraving or woodblock. Impressions of all sorts have been explored by artists, from Yves Klein's ambiguously bulbous prints created by painting the naked female form in blue then rolling the body on paper, to Robert Rauschenberg's long black-and-white print made using an inked car tire.

In "comPRESS," a new exhibit on view at The ARTS at Marks Garage, the definition of printmaking is challenged yet again. The exhibit, organized by Honolulu Printmakers President Erika Johnson Molyneux in collaboration with The ARTS at Marks Garage, showcases the work of 25 invited artists who either live or once lived in Hawaii.

Participants were asked to respond to notions of community and communication through any form of printmaking they choose. Responses range from traditional print forms, such as Dieter Runge's three-part "Meditation" woodblock series, to the unexpected, such as Jackie Mild-Lau's newspaper-sculpted "Made by the News, Swayed by the Wind."

Molyneux organized "comPRESS" in response to the previous exhibit at Marks Garage, "Slow News International," which brought together artists from Asia, Europe and the United States in an exploration of concepts of news and communication. The selection of artworks was limited only by the fact that each was sent in a basic 3-foot mailing tube.

In "comPRESS," concepts of communication are revisited by the printmakers. Deborah Nehmad combines photogravure, pyrography and piercing in the thoughtful "Collateral Damage-June 2007." An ascending series of seemingly arbitrary numbers are written out in packed, small handwriting along one side of the piece. The other side is calendar-like at first glance: An invisible grid contains a rectilinear pattern of pierced holes in paper. It suggests a system of recording tasks, like a family chore calendar with stickers for each day a child makes the bed or feeds the pet. However, the calendar gridlines have been removed, and stickers have been replaced with the violent act of paper puncturing and burning. The art object has been rendered mute, unable to communicate its intention.

A collaboration between Gaye Chan and Lian Lederman presents a very different set of paper piercings. In "Point Monger," the artists present the remnants of a game of darts. A strip of red tape remains adhered to the gallery floor as a record of where the dart-throwers stood. To create the work, a large sheet of paper was folded in half and then placed on the wall: Darts were punched through the two layers of paper to create two nearly identical, symmetrical halves when the sheet was unfolded. Concentric circles are drawn on either side of the sheet, but the dart holes seemed aimed not at the circles but instead at the center. The accumulation of holes is so dense that the paper has begun to tear from the overabundance of punctures. "Point Monger" serves as a document recording the game and also as a signifier of once-present players' interactions.

Molyneux's artwork utilizes sign-systems in a more playful way. It is often questionable when a curator chooses to include his or her own work within a show of invited artists, given that her perspective of the work can hardly be objective. However, in this case the gamble pays off and Molyneux contributes one of the cleverest works in the exhibit. In "including but not limited to " Molyneux presents a series of screenprinted and hammered steel placards. On the placards, a printed phrase is paired with Braille. The work's twist is that the phrases chosen, such "scenic view" or "don't drink and drive," are meaningless to a Braille-reading blind person who will never drive or see a scenic view.

Molyneux, Chan, Lederman, Nehmad and the other artists in "comPRESS" all share this interest in using printmaking to explore varying levels of communication with the observer. The exhibit's third shared theme of community is somewhat less obvious. Although the individual works may not all fully and clearly express the theme of community, the notion is ever-present in the underlying infrastructure of the exhibit and its genesis with the Honolulu Printmakers. Seeing the way that these artists work side by side with their peers, sharing both certain working methods and conceptual underpinnings, demonstrates the effect that such an artist community has upon the ultimate artistic output.

Courtney Biggs, an independent art critic, blogs about art at www.ArtHonolulu.com. She comes from a family of art lovers; her father is on the board of directors of the Hawaii Arts Alliance, for which The ARTS at Marks Garage is a key community project.