Author: David Avery

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Running on Empty

As promised, a new etching based on the engraving Tantalus from the 16th century by Hendrick Goltzius has been completed this summer, and is titled Running on Empty. This is the third in a series of four, and who knows when the fourth will be done, as I adamantly refuse to entertain the possibility of ever doing another one of these again each time a new one is completed.

As you will remember (!), Tantalus, a mortal fathered by Zeus, had, among his other indiscretions towards the gods, decided to kill, dismember, and boil is son Pelops, and serve him at a banquet for the inhabitants of Mt. Olympus, to test whether they were actually omniscient. It was a mistake. They were.

His punishment was to be made to stand in a pool of water that receded every time he tried to satisfy his thirst, and to stand under a tree that pulled away its branches whenever he tried to pluck any fruit. (In ancient Greece, cannibalism and the killing of kin were considered to be among the worst atrocities one could commit). Of course, I have replaced the fruit tree with a gas pump nozzle (see lower right). Does the denial of science in the name of commerce render the balance of nature oblivious to the cannibalization of our children’s future?

See image and info on my website: http://www.davidavery.net/prints/empty.html

This spring I had a very successful exhibition at the Sarratt Gallery at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, and will once again be participating in San Francisco Open Studios at John Gruenwald Press, which will take place on the second weekend, October 22nd and 23rd. Stay tuned for more information.

Sarratt Gallery
Running on Empty
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March News

I am currently having a solo exhibit this March at the Sarratt Gallery at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. I was subject of an article in the Nashville Monthly Arts Magazine about the exhibit, which will continue through April 1st. Images included in the show can be accessed at piggybackapponline.com.

So far this year, I have been a recipient of both a Purchase Award and Jurors Award at the Sixty Square Inches 18th North American Small Print Exhibition at the Purdue University Galleries, and the Lindquist Purchase Award at the 2016 Delta Small Prints Exhibition at the Bradbury Art Museum in Jonesboro, AR.

The eight copies of my new book, The Coming of the Cocklicranes, or His Kingdom Restored are now all bound and available, currently for the price of $1500.00. However, due to the small edition size, the price will increase as more copies are sold.  Don’t be left out! I am currently working on two new etchings, including the my take on the next Goltzius engraving in his series of four, featuring the shortcomings of Tantalus. Look for it this summer.

A Cocklicrane (from the cover)
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Open Studios 2015

I hope that you  will be able to make time in your Busy Schedules to visit me on the occasion of this year’s San Francisco Open Studios at which, in addition to exhibiting with four other accomplished printmakers (see below), I will be premiering The Coming of the Cocklicranes or His Kingdom Restored, a limited edition artist book featuring four etchings by the same name (now taking pre-publication orders!). Of course, as you have come to know and expect, a vast sampling of those pieces of paper smashed into polished copper plates which have been defaced with scratches and rudimentary chemistry will also be on display. Refreshments will be served.
WHERE–Gruenwald Press, 1663 Mission Street, San Francisco (entrance on Plum Street), identified with a prominent festively colored yellow sign reading “Gruenwald Press”. See map link for the secret entrance on “Plum Street“. http://mapq.st/1LAdN7Q
WHEN–October 31 to November 1, 11 AM to 6 PM
Reception (party!) October 30, 5:30 to 8:30 PM
WHO--Kathy Aoki, David Avery, Jonathan Barcan, Susan Belau, John Gruenwald
Please Note: there is regrettably a flight of stairs which has to be negotiated in order to reach the studio, HOWEVER, if needed, the freight elevator is easily accessible and can be utilized by calling 415-734-0376 and waiting patiently…

I hope to see you the weekend of the 31st.
detail: The Coming of the Cocklicranes No. 4
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New Work 2015

The harbingers of Autumn include the publication of five new prints; a series of four etchings entitled The Coming of the Cocklicranes (view here), as well as the just recently completed Runner (Mom, Death and Devil), based on the (you guessed it) famous Durer engraving of a similar name.  In addition, there is the upcoming publication of a new artist book based on the aforementioned series of four etchings, which is anticipated to be ready for my 2015 Open Studio exhibition. This year I will be showing at the John Gruenwald Studio the weekend of Oct. 31st, along with four other accomplished and varied printmakers. More information will be forthcoming as the date approaches.

This year has seen a solo exhibit at the New Grounds Gallery in New Mexico, a three person show at the Sandra Lee Gallery in San Francisco, as well as prints included in an exhibit at the Venice Biennale, the Child’s Gallery in Boston, and several competitions with six awards and honorable mentions.

Runner (Mom, Death and Devil)
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Open Studios and News 2014

Yes, I will be returning to Open Studios this year with the Bay Printmakers at Ft. Mason. If you have not had a chance to view my print and book, Obeliscolychny, this will be an excellent opportunity. New this time around will be my contribution to the Al Mutanabbi Street Project (see the previous post below), as well as a work in progress consisting of four etchings based on yet another excerpt from Rabelais, The Coming of the Cocklicranes or His Kingdom Restored. In addition to being selected by two jurors as one of their ten “must see” artists at Open Studio, here are some recent shows and awards I have received:

Chancellor’s Purchase Award, 2014 Delta National Small Prints Exhibition

Purchase Award, Lilliputians March National Small Works Exhibition

First Place, Paperchaser 2014 Exhibition

Juror Award, Ink and Clay 40

Honorable Mention, Real and Surreal. In addition, I will be participating in a Four Person Show at Sandra Lee Gallery in 2015.

I have participated in 18 competitive and invitational shows this year, including a show at the Curator Gallery in New York, as well as a selection from the IPCNY’s New Prints shown at Christie’s, and and a show selected from participants in the North American Print Biennial of the Boston Printmakers. I will have a complete listing for 2014 available at Open Studios.

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Al Mutanabbi Street

Ex Libris—In Absentia, a hard ground etching on copper was created in response to a call to printmakers from around the world to engage with and explore the implications of the destruction of Bagdad’s intellectual and bookselling district on Al Mutanabbi Street by a car bomb in 2007. The Al Mutanabbi Street Project seeks to draw attention not only to the attack in Bagdad, but through the idea of “Al Mutanabbi Street starts here” to raise awareness of the connections between Bagdad and the threat to culture (artistic and literary thought and exchange of ideas) in the face of the potential for intolerance and violence on our own street.

Woland famously remarked in Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita” that “Manuscripts don’t burn”, meaning…what, exactly? Of course, they do burn, and so do people, as evidenced by this project, but perhaps it is the sense that ideas don’t burn that makes this such a powerful statement. In which case, where do they go, when so emphatically rejected by the arbitrary and malevolent forces of “the real world”?  Is there some sort of continuum, a “space behind the curtain” so to speak that allows minds to connect and reconnect with the essence of burned manuscripts? These are some of the questions that came to mind in the process of exploration engendered by this project.

Ex Libris–In Absentia
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Too Close to the Sun

Too Close to the Sun, my most recent etching, is now available and has been selected from over 3000 prints to be shown along with work from 28 other artists at the IPCNY’s New Prints 2014/Winter exhibition from January 22nd to March 12th, 2014. It was also accepted into the 2014 Delta National Small Prints Exhibition from January 30th to February 28th, 2014.

Too Close to the Sun is based on the 16th century engraving of the fall of Icarus by Hendrick Goltzius from his series, The Four Disgracers that depicted the results of blind arrogance and ignorance in the face of the inexorable forces of the gods and nature. Safe, Clean, Cheap—Phaethon in the 21st Century, which can be seen on my website, was my previous attempt in this vein. I have adapted the work of Goltzius, which was created at the time to comment on the excesses of Phillip II in oppressing the Netherlands, to reflect on current curses of humanity that have been created for our own good by people who know what’s best.

A final note—due to the all-encompassing forces of supply and demand as exemplified by the Invisible Hand of the Marketplace, as of the end of January the price for the etching (not the book) Obeliscolychny will be $1000.00.

 

Too close to the Sun
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The Book

Opened to Title Page

OBELISCOLYCHNY —an appellation that intoxicates the viewer with the potentials of unknown narratives, filled with mysterious possibilities leading to…what exactly? Obelisk-shaped lighthouses? Spit-lanterns wearing high-crown’d hats? A windmill inhabited by a cuckoo clock? Imagine these things and more, with the publication of the artist’s book, Obeliscolychny, featuring two etchings by David Avery and excerpts from Rabelais and Jarry connected with the abovementioned term.

Front
Inside flaps
Open
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OBELISCOLYCHNY

OBELISCOLYCHNY

Oxford English Dictionary: 

Obeliscolychny, n.

Etymology: <Middle French obeliscolychnie (Rabelais, 1548-52) <ancient Greek ??????????????? a spit used (by soldiers) as a lamp-holder < ????????? OBELISK n. + ??????? lamp-stand (see LYCHNIDIATE adj.)

Obs. rare. 

A lighthouse: a lamp-bearer.

 

detail, Obeliscolychny

The final state my etching Obeliscolychny is now completed and can be seen on my website. It will ultimately become the visual component of a limited edition artist’s book that will attempt to bring together the image with the texts from which the ideas that inspired it were derived.

“Obeliscolychny?” you may be tempted to ask.

And with good reason. Arguably one of the most obscure and rarely used terms to be found in literature (or anywhere else), but with, perhaps, undue influence relative to its obscurity, obeliscolychny was invented/appropriated by Francois Rabelais (@1483-1553) and used in books IV and V of his sprawling tales of Gargantua and Pantagruel. Possibly derived from Aristotle’s Politics, which used it to describe a kind of spit used by soldiers to hang lamps on as a metaphor for…well, something or other, it acquired the meaning somewhere along the way of a lighthouse in the form of an obelisk.

Centuries later, Alfred Jarry (1873-1907), poet, playwright, critic, puppeteer, and subverter of objective reality, discovered the word while reading Rabelais and became enamored with it, using it (pataphysically, of course) in several of his novels. That these works tend to be as convoluted and recondite as the origins of obeliscolychny itself is part of what provides grist for the mill of this project.

We are expecting the book to be completed soon, and are aiming for an opening event in mid July, so please stay tuned. Below are listed my most recent exhibitions.

Purchase Award, Ink, Press, Repeat 2013; 1/21 to 2/15/2013, Ben Shahn Center for the Visual Arts, William Patterson University, Wayne, NJ (Jacob Lewis—Pace Prints Chelsea).

Lindquist  Purchase Award, 2013 Delta National Small Prints Exhibition; 1/17 to 2/20/2013, Bradbury Gallery, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR.     (Anne Coffin-IPCNY).

Man, Machine and Nature; 1/17 to 3/1/2013, LA Print Space, Los Angeles, CA.

New Prints 2012; 2/1 to 3/9/2013, Visual arts Center, University of Texas at Austin, TX.

34th Bradley International Print and Drawing Exhibition; 3/9/13 to 4/20/13, Bradley University Galleries, Peoria, Il. (Stephen Goddard—Senior Curator, University of Kansas Kress Foundation).

24th National Drawing and Print Competitive Exhibition; 4/2 to 2/26/13, Gormley Gallery, Notre Dame of Maryland University, Baltimore, MD. (Amy Cavanaogh Royce).

26th Annual McNeese National Works on Paper Exhibition; 3/21 to 5/9/2013,  Ambercrombie Gallery, Lake Charles, LA. (Claudia  Schmuckli).

The New York Society of Etchers 3rd National Exhibition of Intaglio Prints; 5/20 to  6/7/2013, The National Arts Club, NY, NY. (Dr. Leonard Moss and Dr. Muriel Moss).

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International Print Center New York

If you are in the New York area this October, I will be exhibiting two prints in the New Prints 2012/Autumn show at the IPCNY Gallery, located at 508 West 26th Street, 5th Floor. The opening reception is Tuesday, October 30, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM.

Out of over 2600 submissions, 36 prints were selected for this exhibit, and two of them are mine: A Ticket to Ride, and Safe, Clean, Cheap–Phaethon in the 21st Century. Both of these works can be seen on my website.