Etchings
Just in time for the holidays! My most recent etching is hot off the press. It is my take on a trope exploited by artists (think: Munch) since the middle ages: Death and the Maiden. Printed in edition of 25 on my last remaining sheets of Cream Zerkall Laid Cover, it can be yours for only $300. The oval plate size is 4” x 3 1/16”. Makes a great stocking stuffer.
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.
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.
Hopefully, if you have gotten this far, you have visited my updated website. Almost all of the work I have produced to date is now available for your perusal in glorious black and white, including my most recent etching, Abstracting the Quintessence. Don’t forget my dealers, Annex galleries, Jane Haslem Gallery and Warnock Fine Arts, whose sites can be found on my links page.
This summer I am becoming involved in a new book project, entitled Obeliscolychny. It will involve an etching 28 inches by 5 inches which will be utilized as a vertical accordion foldout in the book, as well as being editioned as a separate stand alone print.
“Obeliscolychny?” you may ask.
Ostensibly, “a lighthouse in the shape of an obelisk”. —Perhaps. An ancient Greek word favored by Rabelais and Alfred Jarry and used in their work. Twice. For both of them. Possibly originated with Aristotle, to describe a kind of spit to hang lamps on. Described in the Oxford English Dictionary as “rare, obsolete”. Hmm. Well, I’m running with the obelisk-light house thing, with letterpress text by the above-mentioned writers. And since it is to be a lighthouse in the shape of an obelisk, it must also be a windmill. You can see the kind of direction this thing could be going in…
I will post images of the sections I am working on as they develop (28 inches is a lot for me), so please check back occasionally if you are curious as to what could possibly be going on.
Current and upcoming shows include:
Printhouston: NEXT; June 2 to 26, 2012, Special Events Gallery, Houston, TX. www.printmattershouston.org.
Inked Surfaces; August 27 to Sept. 28, 2012, Diablo Valley College Art Gallery, Pleasent Hill, CA.
Global Matrix III (traveling show); August 9 to October 5, 2012, Clara M. Eagle Gallery, Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky. www.cla.purdue.edu/galleries.
Well, it seems that Saturday, May 21st is Judgment Day, so please come and judge for yourself , the work of 30 printmakers exploring the extremes of size, intimacy and environment at a reception from 6:00 to 9:00 at the Meridian Gallery on 535 Powell Street. I will be showing several recent etchings, including a just finished piece, “A Ticket to Ride”, that is loosely based on Albrecht Durer’s “The Knight, Death and Devil”. In addition, I will be creating an intimate environment in which to present the work that will involve not only some of the very smallest pieces in the show, but also the largest, in the form of a single piece of silkscreened wallpaper (108 sq. ft.!) created and printed with the help of Art Hazelwood.
For more information, including the press release listing all the participating artists, please go to www.meridiangallery.org
My most recent etching, The Ticker, now available;
Image size: 5 1/2″ x 1 1/2″, printed on Zerkall Cover Laid Lt. Green (12 1/2″ x 8″)
Edtion size: 30, Price: $160.00
The quote from Ovid was found in John M. Cohen’s translation of Rabelais’ Gargantua and Pantegruel (book 3, chapter 41) and has been appropriated in an attempt to distill the essence of the social contract, among other things.
Upcoming Exhibitions around the World:
Miniprint Finland, Lahti, Finland, Nov. 26,2010
2010 Harnett Biennial of American Prints, Richmond, VA, Oct 21, 2010
2010 Pacific States Biennial National Print Exhibition, Hilo, HI,Oct. 15, 2010
Delta National Small Prints Exhibition, Arkansas State University, AK, Jan. 20,2011
Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA, Jan. 14, 2011
I will be showing with the Bay Printmakers this year for Open Studios, during the weekend of Oct. 23-24 from 11:00 until 6:00 both days. The Bay Printmakers comprises of 20 artists who explore different facets of printmaking, and will be showing in the Fleet Room in Building D at the Ft. Mason Center, Buchanan and Marina Boulevard. There will also be a preview and reception on Friday, Oct. 22 from 7:00 intil 9:00. On view will be, hot off the press, my most recent effort, The Ticker, in addition to my many other etchings. I look forward to seeing you there and hope that you will enjoy veiwing work by this diverse group of printmakers.
Also: If you happen to be in Los Angeles this weekend (Oct. 16th and 17th), I will be showing at the Beverly Hills Affaire in the Garden at booth #134. See www.beverlyhills.org/artshow for more information. My work was judged Best in Show last May.
David Avery’s most recently completed print, Tempestuous Muse, was selected for a purchase award by juror Peter Frank at the 23rd McNeese National Works on Paper exhibiton in Louisiana this April.
Title: Tempestuous Muse
Date: 2010
Medium: etching
Dimensions: image: 7″ x 7″, paper 15″ x 13″
Edition Size: 30,
Paper: Hahnemuhle Goethe White
Price: $450.00